Maintain Sabah PH autonomy - Upko

KOTA KINABALU - The supreme council meeting of the United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (Upko) today took the stance that the autonomy of the Sabah Pakatan Harapan (PH) must be maintained to allow the coalition to make decisions in the interest of the party and the people in Sabah.

Its president Datuk Ewon Benedick said the autonomy is crucial to make important decisions, including seat allocation and election candidates as well as the state leadership line-up, to be determined through discussions among PH component parties in Sabah.

"We do not want any decisions to be made without consulting with all component parties under PH here (namely) Upko, Sabah PKR, Sabah DAP and Sabah Amanah (Parti Amanah Negara). All parties should also engage in discussions if there are any changes in the leadership of Sabah PH.

"Within these two years, the Sabah state election is also due to be held, so for the preparations and everything related to it, the autonomy should continue to be given to Sabah PH,” he said at a media conference after the meeting here.

Meanwhile, he said the meeting also confirmed that as of last month, the party has 160,041 registered members in 25 divisions nationwide, including four divisions in Perak.

"The meeting also confirmed the organisation of the zone-level Upko convention starting on Oct 15 for Beaufort, Kimanis and Papar divisions. We also allow party members to discuss matters of concern to the divisions organising the convention,” he added. - BERNAMA