KOTA KINABALU, Aug 29 — It would be better to have more parties working together for the sake of Sabah, said chief minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

Posed with a proposal from a component party leader for the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition going into the upcoming state elections on its own, Hajiji said it has yet to be discussed at a party leve,l but added that it would be better to have more parties working together.

"We haven’t made a decision, but we have to think of everyone. Its politics... we have to think of our friends in government. We have many parties including national parties — Pakatan Harapan and a part of Barisan Nasional,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters at an event for the state association for school principals here today.

Hajiji said that the proposal for GRS to stand on its own without any partners was only a proposal and did not mean that GRS was unhappy in its current partnership with PH and other members.

"The partnership with PH Plus now is good. Better yet if we can include other parties too so we can develop the state together,” he said when asked if the current combination of GRS and PH was working.

"What is good for us is to think for the benefit of our state and how to develop as one,” he said.

When asked if Parti Warisan would be one of the parties it could include into the fold, Hajiji said "we’ll think about it later.”.

The state government currently comprises the nine parties in the GRS coalition, plus Pakatan Harapan and other former Umno members who defected last January 2023 following an attempted coup by BN and Warisan.

One of the parties in the GRS coalition, United Sabah National Organisation (Usno), recently reiterated its call for the local coalition to stand on its own in the elections, asking national counterparts to sit it out.

Its president Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia said that it was time that the state charts it own course by taking the lead, like the neighbouring Sarawak.

The call was echoed by two other parties, Party Solidarity Tanah Airku and Sabah Progressive Party.