Kota Kinabalu: Sabah PAS will go solo in Sabah in the Nov 19 general election even as three other Perikatan Nasional (PN) partners contest under the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) logo..
Bersatu Youth vice-chief Ceasar Mandela Malakun told FMT: “This is a normal democratic process. If Sabah PAS, which is part of PN, wants to contest, then who can stop it?”
GRS treasurer Ardino Diris also said Sabah PAS was free to “stand on its own”.
“It has no bearing on the GRS-BN cooperation in Sabah,” he said. “We remain committed to this cooperation.”
Yesterday, Sabah PAS secretary Aliakbar Gulasan was reported to have said Sabah PAS had submitted its list of candidates to the party’s leadership but had yet to decide on the seats to contest.
PAS did not run in the 2020 Sabah elections, choosing instead to support its allies at the time, Umno and PN.
Malakun said Sabah Bersatu had decided to contest under the GRS logo.
“We have the right to select our own candidates and GRS chairman Hajiji Noor will be the one signing the letters for all GRS candidates,” he said.
PN also has Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) as partners. Both are also in GRS.
Malakun said: “We are putting up a united front. In Sabah, GRS is collaborating with BN and we will wait for the list of candidates to be announced by the party leadership.”
