State election: BN Sabah may go solo
BN state information chief Datuk Suhaimi Nasir said they may consider moving forward independently if no consensus was reached in negotiations with PH and GRS.
SHAH ALAM - Barisan Nasional (BN) Sabah is open to collaborating with any political coalition, including Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), in the upcoming 17th state election.
However, BN state information chief Datuk Suhaimi Nasir said they will not compromise and may consider moving forward independently if no consensus was reached in negotiations with PH and GRS.
At the same time, the Libaran MP confirmed that BN Sabah had discussions on Nov 5 with PH representatives regarding preparations for the state election.
He said in these discussions, both coalitions agreed to establish a "communication platform" or a special committee led by GRS secretary-general Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.
He added that this was important for discussing and refining all plans related to the preparation of the Sabah state election scheduled to take place before October 2025.
"BN Sabah is also prepared to hold discussions with any party as part of its preparations for next year’s Sabah state election.
"In the meeting, BN also emphasised that they are ready to proceed independently if no agreement can be reached through discussions with PH and GRS," he told Sinar.
He said this in response to questions about whether BN Sabah was willing to cooperate with other coalitions, particularly GRS, led by chief minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
This came after BN Sabah, led by Kinabatangan MP Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, had earlier clashed with the current Sabah state government leadership and was now part of the opposition bloc.
This situation arose after BN Sabah joined forces with Parti Warisan (Warisan) in the "Kinabalu Movement" two years ago in an attempt to overthrow Hajiji, but the effort failed.
In other developments, Suhaimi stressed that BN Sabah was not only confident in defending the 14 state legislative assembly seats it won in the 2020 state election.
He was also optimistic that BN Sabah could increase its number of state legislative assembly seats in the upcoming state election.
The 16th Sabah state election results saw Warisan winning 29 seats, followed by Perikatan Nasional (PN) with 17 seats, BN with 14 seats, Parti Bersatu Sabah (seven), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (two), United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (one) and Independent (three).
Following this, PN, BN, Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku and Parti Bersatu Sabah joined forces to form a new political coalition known as GRS to establish the new state government.
The establishment of the new state government was achieved after GRS secured a narrow majority of 38 state seats out of 73 in the 16th state election, compared to Warisan Plus, which included PH and controlled 32 state seats at the time.
However, Sabah's political landscape changed post-15th General Election (GE15).
The shift occurred when the majority of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia assemblymen led by Hajiji, exited PN to remain with GRS in support of the unity government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
GRS’ transition of support from PN to the unity government was also welcomed by PH and six BN assemblymen who defected to support Hajiji amid the Kinabalu Movement crisis initiated by Bung along with Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
