Musa to abandon Umno and join new coalition

KOTA KINABALU: Tan Sri Musa Aman is set to abandon Umno and join a new Sabah coalition Gabungan Bersatu Sabah that so far includes Parti Bersatu Sabah and Sabah STAR.

With this move, it is believed that Musa, who has lost the majority in the state assembly, will try to forge an understanding with Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Pakatan Harapan that has formed the Federal Government.

However, Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has been sworn in as chief minister.

PBS president Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, whose party had left Barisan Nasional, said the move to create Gabungan Bersatu Sabah would effectively end Umno’s rule in Sabah.

PBS is offering to be a single platform upon which all elected representatives of the state government can become members of PBS to pursue their political struggle and serve the people of Sabah.

The model will be dubbed “PBS Plus”, he said after the PBS supreme council meeting here.

It is hoped the move will see the remaining 13 Umno assemblymen, and four Upko and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) assemblymen still with Barisan, move to the new Gabungan parties.

The new alliance will have 25 assemblymen under Musa, who had lost his 31-seat majority, with Warisan and its partners PKR and DAP together with Upko holding 35 assemblymen following the defection of four Umno assemblymen.

The Sabah political situation turned into a crisis when the GE14 results returned a hung assembly, with both Warisan and Barisan winning 29 seats each while Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan’s Sabah STAR won two seats in the 60-seat assembly.

With the support of Sabah STAR, Musa was sworn in just before mid- night on Thursday. However, he lost his 31-seat majority after Upko pulled out of Barisan and four Umno assemblymen defected on Friday morning.

Meanwhile, Musa denied that he has resigned as Chief Minister.

In a statement, he said neither he nor the state Cabinet members have resigned.

“In fact, I have just chaired the first State Cabinet meeting after the just concluded general election,” he added.

Under the constitution, Musa cannot be sacked by the Head of State. Any move to swear in a second chief minister would spark a constitutional crisis in Sabah.