KOTA KINABALU: Deputy Chief Minister Shahelmey Yahya said he will decide in due course, following Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin’s call to vacate his Putatan parliamentary seat if the former wants to contest in the state election.
Shahelmey said he understood and accepted Bung’s message with an open heart.
“I have not made any decision yet and will only make it when I feel that the suitable time has come,” the State Works Minister said on Sunday.
Earlier, Bung said Sabah Umno has plenty of candidates ready to reclaim Putatan if its current Member of Parliament (MP) wishes to contest in the coming state elections.
This, Bung said, would require Shahelmey, the Putatan MP, to relinquish his parliamentary seat. Shahelmey is also Tanjung Keramat assemblyman.
“I do not make the rules. These are the Election Commission’s. This means there could be a by-election,” he said at a breaking-of-fast event in Putatan, on Saturday.
Shahelmey was suspended by Umno on March 18, 2023, for refusing to toe the party line during an attempt to oust Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor early last year.
The political move led by Bung failed after Hajiji proved he enjoyed the support of the majority of Sabah’s 73 assemblymen.
Besides Shahelmey, four other Umno assemblymen, Datuk James Ratib (Sugut), Datuk Jasnih Daya (Pantai Dalit), Datuk Arsad Bistari (Tempasuk) and Datuk Hamild Awang (Balung) also pledged their support for Hajiji.
However, while Shahelmy did not quit Umno in order not to breach the federal anti-hopping law as an MP, the other four assemblymen resigned from Umno to join Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), led by Hajiji, as the Sabah legislative assembly had not enacted the anti-hopping law at the time.
