Sabah Umno to defend all traditional MP seats

Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin says the seats that Umno had won in GE14 will be non-negotiable.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Umno will defend all the party’s traditional seats in the event a snap general election is called.

Its chief, Bung Moktar Radin, said this will include the ones held by others due to crossovers.

“We will work with other parties who are not aligned with Warisan.

“In principle, Sabah Umno will contest all the party’s traditional seats.

“The negotiations on other seats will be decided later with the others. However, the seats that Umno had won will be non-negotiable,” he told FMT today.

Sabah Umno contested in 14 federal seats in the 14th general election, namely Kudat, Kota Belud, Sepanggar, Papar, Kimanis, Beaufort, Sipitang, Tenom, Beluran, Kinabatangan, Silam, Libaran, Semporna and Kalabakan.

They lost Kota Belud, Sepanggar, Papar, Tenom, Silam, Semporna and Kalabakan to rivals. The MPs from Kudat (Abdul Rahim Bakri), Beaufort (Azizah Mohd Dun), Sipitang (Hafez Yamani Musa), Beluran (Ronald Kiandee) and Zakaria Mohd Edris (Libaran) joined Sabah PPBM in April last year.

Moments after Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri announced Sabah Umno can choose to work with Sabah PPBM last night, Bung took to Twitter to announce that Sabah Umno will defend all the federal seats as well as other seats they deem winnable to prove the party’s worth.

It was apparent Bung was responding to PPBM Mersing MP Abdul Latiff Ahmad’s earlier claim that Umno had apparently lost support in Sabah.

Sabah Youth chief Abdul Aziz Julkarnain also affirmed his chief’s stand, saying the matter had already been discussed and agreed upon by all Sabah Umno top leaders last night.

He also noted Sabah Umno will state its claim to all the party’s traditional seats to point out to PPBM that their MPs from Sabah had won the seats on the Barisan Nasional ticket in the last general election.

Unlike the Perikatan Nasional alliance in Peninsular Malaysia and Gabungan Parti Sarawak, Sabah will see the BN Plus cooperation in the state opposition camp.

The BN Plus comprises Sabah Umno, PBS, MCA, Sabah STAR and Sabah PPBM. - FMT