KOTA KINABALU, January 7 – The actions of the Sabah National Front (BN) to withdraw support for the Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor will cause the Sabah government that was formed together after the State Election (PRN) to fall. According to the number of seats currently available, BN has 18 seats in the State Assembly (DUN), while Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) has 29 seats including the Appointed Assemblyman.
Meanwhile, Parti Warisan (Warisan) has 19 state assembly seats and Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sabah has seven state assembly seats. Other parties such as the Social Welfare Democratic Party (KDM) have three state assembly seats while the Sabah People’s Harapan Party (Harapan) and the Independent Assemblyman each have one seat.
The number of seats currently available means that no single party can form a government except through a coalition between parties that have a large number of state assembly seats. Previously, there were rumors that Sabah BN would collaborate with Warisan and if the combination between the two parties was successful, this would mean that they would have 37 state assembly seats.
The combination of the two parties needs the support of at least three more state assembly seats either from independent assemblymen or assemblymen from KDM and Harapan to get a simple majority to form a new government. In the Sabah BN Chairman’s press conference, Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin on Friday, he observed that the current state government is no longer functional.
“I see that the Sabah government has not worked, it has fallen because the agreement between BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN) no longer exists. So there is no party that says it is still in power,” he said. Asked if he would cooperate with Warisan, Bung Moktar did not rule out the possibility and could cooperate with anyone. “We can work with anyone, any party as long as they are sincere,” he said.
