KOTA KINABALU, Jan 10 — Seats in the Sabah Opposition bloc, which now comprises Umno, Parti Warisan and Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat, were left empty in today’s special legislative sitting where the state government seeks to table two important Bills on state rights.

Speaker Datuk Kadzim Yahya said that Usukan assemblyman Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak was the only one who applied for leave of absence.

Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, his deputy Datuk Yakubah Khan and state party secretary Datuk Jafry Arifin should be seated as part of the state Opposition, having been removed from their positions as deputy chief minister-cum-works minister; science, technology and innovation minister; and tourism culture and environment minister respectively.

However, the five Umno assemblymen who disagreed with the party’s stand to pull support from Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor were present in the House, and remained seated alongside Pakatan Harapan (PH) and other Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) backbenchers.

Some of the assemblymen present expressed their disappointment at the absence of their Opposition peers in their speeches, saying the Bills should take priority over political interests.

“This is not personal, but this is a big deal that is to benefit all Sabahans. But look at that side, it’s all empty,” Sindumin assemblyman Datuk Dr Yusof Yaacob said.

Dr Yusof is among the five Umno assemblymen who defied the party’s stand and openly supported Hajiji’s leadership as chief minister.

Both Umno and Warisan had earlier issued statements to say they will not be attending today’s special State Assembly sitting to table the State Energy Commission Bill 2023 and State Gas Supply Bill 2023, a significant Bill that will see the setting up of an energy commission in Sabah in order to take over all regulatory power for onshore gas supply in Sabah.

Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal said the party fully supports the Bill, but claimed its 19 assemblymen’s absence will not affect the gazetting of the Bill, which requires a simple majority to be approved.

He said Warisan representatives would not be present to highlight the need to form a unity government as proposed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last night.

Bung had also said that most of the Umno assemblymen will not be attending the Sabah sitting as they needed to fly to Kuala Lumpur to attend the party’s general assembly, which had been set to start today till January 14.

“But we fully support the Bills,” Bung said.

The state government has been embroiled in a leadership crisis since last week when there were reports of an attempted coup by Umno and Warisan to topple Hajiji and the GRS-Barisan Nasional government.

The coup fizzled out as Pakatan Harapan’s seven assemblymen put their support behind Hajiji, along with five out of 17 of Umno’s assemblymen, bringing Hajiji’s support to 44 assemblymen – more than half of the 79-seat State Assembly and enough to form government.

All 44 assemblymen are believed to be in attendance today and will support the Bills.

Hajiji is expected to make an announcement on a state Cabinet reshuffle to include PH, but it remains unclear if he will include Umno and Warisan as proposed by Anwar last night.