Gagasan Rakyat’s Masiung predicts state polls before mid-next year, calls for election prep

TONGOD, Sept 30 — Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) Vice President Datuk Masiung Banah hinted that the 17th state general election (PRN) will be held before the middle of next year.

He made the prediction after Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor had said earlier that the election could be held earlier.

Masiung urged the party’s three main wings in Sabah, the Youth, Women and Beliawanis, to form their respective machinery and move as a team in the upcoming state election campaign, which could be called at any time.

The Kuamut assemblyman and Gagasan Rakyat Kuamut Division chief said this when officiating the division’s annual general meeting at the district council community hall here yesterday.

Last Monday, Hajiji called for preparation for the state election which will be called at the latest in October next year.

“I will decide when we will hold the election. If I think earlier, then it will be earlier,” he said when officiating the Gagasan Rakyat Pitas annual general meeting.

Meanwhile, four key leaders of opposition parties in Kuamut announced their resignation from their parties to join Gagasan Rakyat under Masiung’s leadership in the area.

They include Abdul Gafar Jailani, former Umno coordinator for the Keramuak Voting District Center (PDM); Micheal Orogan, former Umno coordinator chairman for the Tongod zone; Libon Ali, Bersatu coordinator for the Kuamut State Assembly; and Kalmin Bambasang, deputy Umno coordinator for the Tongod zone, who is also the Umno Branch chief for Bingkulat.

Masiung instructed the Gagasan Rakyat PDM chiefs and zone chairmen in each area to be prepared to form a mobile task force in preparation for the coming state election.

He pointed out that Gagasan Rakyat will work with the component parties of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) in forming election campaign machinery across the state.

“From now on, all party machinery within GRS must not delay and should focus on actively organizing election efforts.

“The three main wings of GRS must go to the ground to understand the problems of the grassroots community and work as a team with the same goal,” he said.

Earlier, Masiung inaugurated the new Gagasan Rakyat Kuamut office at Dataran Tongod, which houses the Gagasan Rakyat office and the Community Development Leader Unit. — The Borneo Post