Sabah Barisan appoints 25 polls coordinators

SANDAKAN: Sabah Barisan Nasional has appointed 25 parliamentary constituency coordinators to prepare for the state election.

Its chairman, Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, said the names had been approved by the coalition’s supreme council earlier this month.

“We have been proposing (the appointments) for a long time... but the council did not have time to meet until only recently (and) agreed,” he said at an Umno gathering at Sungai Manila here on Monday.

Bung, who is also state Umno chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, said the appointment is important as each coordinator will talk to the leaders in their respective areas to discuss Barisan’s direction in facing the election.

“We need to prepare from now to ensure that Umno and Barisan are in a position to contest,” he said.

He also said Sabah Umno and Barisan were not rushing to pick election partners after learning its lesson from the September 2020 snap state polls.

“(It was like) living with strangers in the same house and in different rooms.

“We were unable to do anything as they did not honour our agreement.

We don’t want to be betrayed again,” he said.

Sabah Umno fell out with Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) after they teamed up in 2020 to topple the Warisan Plus state government led by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.

Bung Moktar withdrew support for the GRS state government in January last year, but Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor held on to power with the support of assemblymen from Sabah Pakatan Harapan and defectors from Barisan.

“Discussing and deciding (on partners) are two different things. We are willing to work with any party that will respect agreements and bring benefits to Barisan,” Bung Moktar added.