Kota Kinabalu: Former Warisan vice-president Peter Anthony is keeping his fingers crossed that his newly minted Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) will be accepted into Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) before the next general election.
Anthony, the KDM president, said they had not received any news since submitting the party’s official application to join GRS on March 13.
“I was informed that GRS has set up a special committee to look at our application, so we will just have to wait,” he told reporters after meeting the Chinese community in the Sepanggar constituency near here today.
“We will give time to the chief minister (Hajiji Noor) to make a decision.”
Asked whether he was confident KDM would be accepted before the general election, the Melalap assemblyman said: “Hopefully. But in any case, it’s important for us to continue building our rapport with the people.”
Hajiji, who is also GRS pro tem chairman, had previously said a special committee had been formed to review applications from parties interested in joining the coalition, including from KDM and the United Sabah National Organisation (Usno Baru).
Only four parties are formally part of GRS, which was officially registered last month.
Besides Bersatu, which Hajiji leads, the other parties are Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).
Anthony, a former infrastructure minister under the Warisan-led state government, previously said he had resigned to form a new party “to reduce political conflict in Sabah”.
He said he left Warisan as the party had strayed from its true path, which was to fight for the people of Sabah, after it expanded to the peninsula. Limbahau state representative Juil Nuatim also left Warisan to join Anthony.
Meanwhile, Anthony also received application forms from more than 1,000 people, from the Sepanggar constituency, who wanted to join KDM.
.jpg){kind=tracking}
