Many in Sabah Umno can be CM candidate, including me - Bung

Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin said there are many leaders within the party who have the potential of becoming the state’s chief minister (CM), including himself, if they were to win the upcoming state elections.

“Sabah Umno has many people who can become the chief minister candidate. I can do it. My deputy (Jefri Arifin) also can, Abdul Rahman Dahlan also, as well as Mohd Hasnol Ayub (Penampang Umno chief).

“There are many who can. If we can have 10 chief ministers, everyone can do it,” he said to reporters today when asked about his party's CM candidate.

Bung, who is a five-term Kinabatangan MP, had also confirmed that he will be contesting in the new Lamag state seat. He also said that Jefri will contest in the Sukau state seat.

By convention, the Sabah Umno chief also serves as the state chief minister if BN forms the state government.

However, Umno is now in a weakened position in Sabah and the party has yet to settle on a CM candidate.

Amid claims that former Sabah Umno chief Musa Aman will be dropped as a candidate in the upcoming state snap polls, Bung had said there were attempts to drive a wedge between them.

“That is a false statement created to drive a wedge between Musa and me to hurt Umno,” Bung had said.

Even though Musa is no longer the Sabah Umno chief, he managed to regroup assemblypersons who had defected from Umno for a political coup attempt against the Warisan-led government.

However, the coup was thwarted after Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal, who is also Warisan president, dissolved the state assembly.

Had Musa succeeded, he would have returned as chief minister, a position which he held from 2003 to 2018.

Earlier today, Bung chaired a Sabah Umno meeting (photo) to discuss seat allocations, identify candidates, and organise their election machinery.

“Today, we have decided that Umno-BN and our friends will contest in all 73 seats against Warisan.

“This means that Sabah Umno will negotiate with those within BN in the next two days or so and then we will negotiate with our allies who are not pro-Warisan,” Bung said in a press conference today, as reported by Berita Harian.

This comes after Bung said yesterday that Sabah BN would hold a meeting today to discuss whether they will cooperate with Bersatu in the state elections.

Sabah Bersatu chief Hajiji Mohd Noor had previously said his party plans to contest 45 out of the 73 state seats, including eight traditional Umno seats which switched hands to Bersatu through defections.

Hajiji courted criticism for this remark, including from Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan.

However, at the time, Bung had noted that Hajiji (photo) said he was open to discussions and welcomed this.

When contacted by Malaysiakini, Bung said he would hold discussions with Sabah BN and its allies, including Bersatu, about seat negotiations.

“Bersatu announced they want to contest 45 seats. It is okay, we can discuss later.

“It is impossible to ensure straight fights in all the seats because there are still parties who do not side with Umno or Warisan.

“But at the Perikatan Nasional level, we will ensure there are no conflicts,” he said. - Mkini