Wrong to say no 'Malaya' in present govt – Hajiji

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Umno liaison chairman Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor said the current Parti Warisan SabahUpko state government was actually formed by a coalition between both and 'Malaya' parties.

He said the people of Sabah know that the present Sabah state government was not formed just by a coalition between Warisan and Upko, but was formed by a coalition between Warisan, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and Upko.

He said the people know that Warisan did not win enough seats during the 14th general election to form the state government by itself, and it only achieved that by forming a coalition government with PKR and DAP, as well as Upko which came in later.

"Warisan did not win in the GE14 and because of that, it has to form a coalition with PKR and DAP so their seats tallied with that won by BN ... and they were only able to form the state government after they had formed a coalition with Upko.

"Acting Upko president Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau was wrong when he said there were no 'Malaya' in the present state government because PKR and DAP are both 'Malaya' parties.

"The present Sabah state government is actually not free from 'Malaya' parties and 'Malaya' influences, as there are many leaders from PKR and DAP who are currently holding government posts as ministers and assistant ministers," he said.

Hajiji was responding to Tangau who reportedly told the media that he and Upko ran away from Umno because they did not want to be in Umno's grip.

Tangau had said that Upko was now in a comfortable zone as it was no longer bullied and Upko wanted to follow the Sabah culture and there was no need for the Malaya culture in Sabah, like in Sarawak.

Hajiji quizzed that if Upko and Tangau rejected the Malaya culture, from the political point of view, then why did they form a coalition with the Warisan-Pakatan Harapan government?

"Are PKR and DAP not Malaya parties which practise Malaya political culture? It's clear here that Upko is practising a double standard.

"Tangau should realize that the people of Sabah are not stupid. We understand why he did it," he said.