KOTA KINABALU, March 6 — The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government will remain intact regardless of the political instability at the federal level, said Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) chief Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
Hajiji, who is also the Sabah chief minister, echoed Sabah Umno chief Datuk Bung Moktar Radin in saying said cooperation between Bersatu and Umno in Sabah will not be affected by the split of the two parties in Kuala Lumpur.
“Umno at the federal level knows that our resolve is to strengthen the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition and Bersatu will continue to work and cooperate with our partners in Sabah to honour the rakyat’s mandate that put us (GRS) in power,” said Hajiji in a statement here.
“Now is not the time for political bickering but to get to work. We are faced with a pandemic, economic challenges and difficulties affecting the people so let us all not be distracted but work together to surmount these challenges,” Hajiji said.
It was reported that Bung also said that the cooperation between the parties in Sabah would continue despite some dissatisfaction with the development.
“There are some feelings of dissatisfaction within some parties in GRS like STAR and Bersatu, who claim that Umno people hold a lot of positions, but that’s not true.
“It’s hard for us to satisfy everyone but these challenges don’t have to ruin the struggle and everything we have worked hard for,” Bung was quoted as saying in an Astro Awani report.
Bung said that Sabah Umno has the autonomy to forge its own ties and agreements and it has so far agreed to maintain the status quo.
