More new political parties in Sabah?

Home Ministry officials are set to meet applicants of 12 new political parties in Sabah in what is rumoured to be Umno's bid to put in place its BN-direct membership process.

KOTA KINABALU: Speculations are rife that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is setting in motion his gameplan to contain Umno Sabah and Barisan Nasional’s weakening grip in the state.

It is learnt that he has given the “green light” for more new political parties to be registered in Sabah, where a deeply divided Umno is battling with inner turmoil.

BN is also struggling under relentless attacks over alleged abuse of power, land grabs, unfair federal policies, victimisation and escalating cost of living.

Observers here see the move as an indication that the BN-direct membership process is finally taking shape.

It is learnt that various aspiring political parties have been invited to meet with senior officers from the Home Ministry here tomorrow.

Pro-tem presidents and secretaries-general from some 12 parties who had applied to be registered have been invited for the important meeting. Some of these groups had applied to be registered several years ago.

It is also rumoured that a deputy minister from the Home Ministry will be in attendance.

A leader of one aspiring party, who refused to be named, told FMT he received a letter inviting him and his secretary-general for the meeting tomorrow at the Sabah office of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) at Menara MAA here.

“I will certainly go tomorrow and hope our party will finally be registered in time for the general election,” he said.

According to him, as many as 12 new political parties are in their final stage of being registered by ROS. They are likely to be represented at the meeting.

Meanwhile, FMT learnt that among those attending tomorrow’s meeting are the leaders of Usno Baru and Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS).

PCS is believed to be aligned to Dr Jeffrey Kitingan who recently joined the Sarawak-based State Reform Party (STAR) and became its Sabah chapter chairman.

Some observers are of the opinion that if Najib allowed these parties to be registered now, it could be a well calculated political plan to further split the opposition votes in the state which Umno has often called its “fixed deposit”.

They viewed it as a clever move as Najib believed Sabah, which has 25 of the 222 parliamentary seats, would be once again the “saver” of the embattled Umno-led BN regime that held power in Malaysia for over 50 years