Hajiji to helm Gagasan Rakyat, ending his party-less status as Sabah’s CM

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said he now leads Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah, also known as Gagasan Rakyat, to end his “party-less” status and strengthen his standing as the Sabah chief minister.

“We will mobilise and further our struggle through Gagasan Rakyat for the benefit of the people.

“Hopefully, after that, there won’t be any dispute about my position as the state’s chief minister,” said Hajiji in a statement released today.

The chairman of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) then added that Gagasan Rakyat will be used to continue the struggle as a local party in the state.

He said that Gagasan Rakyat is an existing party that has now been taken over by him and the party was accepted into the GRS coalition on December 9 last year.

In the statement, he said he is confident in his position because he has received enough support from the state assemblymen and he is now no longer “party-less”.

“I’m surprised that even when we are managing the state well (people still dispute my position).

“However, I know this is not because we failed in our administration, but because there are people who are greedy for more power.

“Nevertheless, I’m confident that I will get the support from the people because we have done our best for the future of Sabah, and we can overcome all challenges in this government,” he added.

On January 6, Hajiji’s position as chief minister was undermined when Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin pulled the plug on their relationship with the GRS government, which caused Hajiji to lose the majority he had to form the state Cabinet.

Bung Moktar also claimed that Hajiji is not legally fit to stay as the chief minister because he had become “party-less” after he and a number of politicians left Sabah Bersatu en masse to join the unity government last year.

The coup, however, did not come to pass when Hajiji managed to get support from 44 assemblymen including GRS (29), Pakatan Harapan (seven), Umno (five), Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah, PAS and an independent with one each to form the new state Cabinet.