5 Sabah Umno reps willing to be sacked after refusing to plot against Hajiji

By admin-s On Jan 9, 2023

The five Sabah Umno asssemblymen who refused to be part of the move to oust Hajiji Noor as the chief minister say they are willing to be sacked for sticking to their principles.

(FMT) – They said they will form a new party in support of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Hajiji, its chief, if they are shown the door by Sabah Umno.

The five are Shahelmey Yahya (Tanjung Keramat), Jasni Daya (Pantai Dalit), James Ratib (Sugut), Yusof Yacob (Sindumin) and Arsad Bistari (Tempasuk).

In an interview with Sabah’s Daily Express, they said they were not willing to sign statutory declarations withdrawing support for Hajiji and proposing Warisan president Shafie Apdal in his place.

“There was no logic in the move, so we refused to sign,” they said.

“That was why the ‘Sutera Move’ last Thursday failed when both Shafie and Bung (Sabah Umno chairman Bung Moktar Radin) did not turn up for the press conference for fear of not having the support to form the new state government.

“When the ‘Sutera Move’ failed, the faction with Bung then decided to propose him as the chief ministerial candidate instead of Shafie. But again, we wanted no part in it.”

The move was to bring Shafie into power as chief minister, with Bung as his deputy and former federal minister Salleh Said Keruak as the finance minister.

Bung had announced last Friday that Sabah Umno was retracting its support for Hajiji as chief minister for infringing the terms of a political agreement between them after the 2020 Sabah state election.

Yesterday, Hajiji said he had the support of 44 assemblymen, including five assemblymen from Umno who had opposed Bung’s move to oust the chief minister.