Bung Moktar
KOTA KINABALU (Oct 3): Umno Sabah will be defending the parliamentary seats it won in the last general election.
Its chief, Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, said this was the party leadership’s decision.
“In Sabah we have Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) but when the party (leadership) made the decision for us to contest, we have no choice (but to follow),” said the Kinabatangan Member of Parliament.
Bung Moktar was commenting on Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement that the party is ready to take on Umno in the coming 15th general election (GE15).
“Umno needs to defend the seats it contested in and strengthen the party further,” he said, adding that Umno Sabah is ready to face any parties, including Bersatu.
Bung Moktar in a statement on Sunday said the party had faced many challenges.
“We have won, we have lost and we have won again. So it is not a huge obstacle for us to contest against any party in GE15,” he said.
The Deputy Chief Minister urged the party’s machinery at all levels to always be ready for the GE15.
Muhyiddin had said his party was ready to fight Umno should it not change its stand against cooperating with Bersatu in GE15.
However, the former Prime Minister said that the two parties may still be in good terms here in the state level.
“It is clear that they (Umno) will not be working together with us (Bersatu), which basically means that they will fight against us. This is reality in politics, sometimes you are friends, other times you are enemies,” he told reporters after meeting the Sabah Bersatu leaders here on Saturday.
On October 1, Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had confirmed that his party would not be working with Perikatan Nasional (PN), a coalition which Bersatu is in, in the next election.
Ahmad Zahid’s statement comes a day after PN said it would be discussing seat allocations without involving Barisan Nasional (BN).