The twists and turns of Sabah politics

KOTA KINABALU: The numerous political parties, rivalries and coalitions in Sabah have got voters scratching their heads.

The ruling state government comprises nine parties from the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Barisan Nasional coalitions.

GRS, headed by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, consists of Sabah Bersatu, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Sabah STAR, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), and Usno.

Meanwhile, Sabah Barisan – with Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin as its chairman – comprises Umno, MCA, MIC and PBRS.

What’s confounding is Bersatu, a Perikatan Nasional component party, is working with Barisan here, unlike in the peninsula where they are bitter rivals.

Two other GRS component parties – SAPP and Sabah STAR – are also members of Perikatan, with SAPP led by Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee and Sabah STAR’S president is Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan.

The Grs-barisan coalition successfully toppled the Parti Warisanpakatan Harapan-upko state government in the Sabah snap elections two years ago.

Warisan, which was friendly to Pakatan in 2018, had ceased the collaboration and is going solo in GE15.

However, Upko, another Sabahbased party, remains with Pakatan.

Following GE14 in 2018, Upko teamed up with Pakatan-warisan to form the state government – with Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal as the chief minister.

After the Warisan-led government was toppled, Upko – led by Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau – decided to join Pakatan.

Pakatan now consists of PKR, DAP, Amanah and Upko.

Then there is the opposition Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Malaysia (KDM), led by Datuk Peter Anthony, which is friendly to GRS but not Barisan. Other national parties contesting in Sabah are Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Pejuang and Muda, led by Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, which is contesting under a pact with Pakatan.