Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) will support any coalition that is decided by the central BN to form the new federal government, said Sabah BN Chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.
The Sabah Deputy Chief Minister said the State BN was taking this stand because it wants a stable federal government to be formed for the sake of the country’s stability.
“We will follow the decision to be taken by the party (central BN). We have to prioritise the stability of the (federal) government and country,” he said.
Asked on Gabungan Rakyat Sabah’s (GRS) declaration of support for Perikatan Nasional (PN) Chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the Prime Minister candidate, Bung said Sabah BN planned to hold further talks with GRS, its partner in the state administration.
“We will have discussions with GRS after the formation of the federal government is settled,” he added.
In the 15th general election (GE15), Sabah BN won seven of the 12 seats it contested.
Bung questioned Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor for breaking GRS’ pre-election promise to support BN.
“He agreed that GRS would support BN. He has broken the deal,” he said, referring to Hajiji’s statement earlier to support Muhyiddin as the prime minister candidate.
“He has declared war on us,” he said, adding that Hajiji had not discussed the matter with him before making the statement.
BN and GRS had worked out a seat-sharing formula for 15th general election, which ended with BN winning seven seats and GRS winning six.
Bung also said rumours of Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (PKDM) winning candidate in Kota Marudu Datuk Wetrom Bahanda being proxies to GRS were evidently true.
He alleged that two other independent winning candidates, Kudat’s Verdon Bahanda and Tenom’s Riduan Rubin were also part of the pact supporting GRS, and by extension PN,
The three new MPs were spotted in photos with Muhyiddin and Hajiji on Sunday night, along with PKDM President Datuk Peter Anthony.
Bung said it was clear that Hajiji and GRS had betrayed their pact.
When asked whether BN would continue to work with GRS in the state government, Bung said that it would affect their relationship and did not dismiss the possibility of withdrawing support for the state.
“Not now, we will look into it later,” he said.
GRS Chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor was Monday reported as saying GRS was supporting Muhyiddin to be the 10th Prime Minister and forming a coalition federal government with PN, Gabungan Parti Sarawak and other like-minded parties.
GE15 has resulted in a hung Parliament as no single party or coalition managed to win a simple majority.
Meanwhile, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) said it would wait for the political wrangling to be resolved before making a final decision on which coalition to support.
Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) President Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said what was most important was to see who would become the government of the day.
“They have to find their own way to resolve it, why do we want to get involved? Of course, for GPS, we will discuss among ourselves and the Premier (Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg) will make the final decision,” he told reporters when met at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly, Monday.
PDP is one of four component parties in GPS, along with Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS).
Abang Johari, who tabled the State Budget earlier, declined to speak to the media before leaving the State Assembly complex.
Tiong said it was still unclear who had the numbers to be Prime Minister or form the next government.
“Let’s say Barisan Nasional doesn’t work with Perikatan Nasional, Perikatan will not be able to form the government even with GPS’ support. They have a problem, we let them settle first among themselves,” he added.
On Sunday, Abang Johari had said GPS would work with Perikatan, Barisan and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) to form the next federal government.
He also said the state coalition was backing Muhyiddin to be the Prime Minister.
However, Barisan Chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the coalition had not held any discussions with Perikatan or GPS to form the government.
On Monday, Pakatan Harapan and Barisan leaders met for talks on a post-electoral pact, though the outcome remained inconclusive.
Both Muhyiddin and Pakatan Chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim claimed to have the required majority support to form the government.
