Sabah Umno chief rejects talk of more reps jumping ship

KOTA KINABALU: Talk is rife that at least six Sabah Umno assemblymen are crossing over to Parti Warisan Sabah.

This comes on the heels of the High Court’s decision to throw out Tan Sri Musa Aman’s bid to be declared the rightful chief minister.

Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor dismissed it as not true, while the party’s state secretary Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said he could not guess what the assemblymen were thinking.

“The issue does not arise as we are part of the (new) Gabungan Bersatu Sabah (GBS),” Hajiji told reporters while attending the Sabah State Assembly sitting here yesterday.

“It’s not true. There is no one leaving or coming,” he added.

Masidi said he had not heard of any movements from among the 10 remaining Umno members, as the national party was giving more powers to Umno in the state to have more autonomy to meet the dynamic political challenges following the May 9 general election.

“I really cannot predict the future. Politics is a dynamic thing and they are constantly changing,” Masidi said when asked if it was true that some Umno assemblymen would be leaving the party.

He also believed that party members would remain loyal to Sabah Umno.

Sabah Umno has lost seven of its 17 assemblymen after the elections who joined the ruling Warisan government or its partners Upko, PKR and DAP.

With Sabah Barisan Nasional more or less left only on paper in the state, Sabah Umno joined Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Parti Bersatu Sabah and Sabah STAR in a quickly cobbled together GBS coalition ahead of Musa’s case on Sept 5.

With Musa losing the case, sources said several Sabah Umno assemblymen had been sizing up the possibility of joining Warisan, led by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, over the last few days.

Sources said if any movement takes place, it could happen soon because many now believe that there is no longer a chance for Musa to return to power.