KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Umno today confirmed the state party will not be forming an alliance with any parties at the moment, despite the successful Umno-PAS alliance in the peninsula.
Sabah Umno liaison deputy chief Yakub Khan said they are now focusing on strengthening and stabilising the party after its shocking defeat in last year’s general election.
“We saw how the Umno-PAS combination managed to defeat government parties in two recent by-elections in Cameron Highlands and Semenyih.
“But in Sabah, we have yet to decide which party we want to work with,” Yakub told reporters after opening the Putatan Umno branches’ conference here.
He also said Sabah Umno had requested for autonomy from the central Umno leadership and he believed this status would be granted soon.
“With autonomy, we have the freedom to choose our own partners. We will not be bound by the choices made at the national level.”
He said the party is still working closely with its Barisan Nasional allies in the state, namely MCA and PBRS.
Earlier today, Sabah Umno Youth chief Abdul Aziz Julkarnain told FMT it was clear that the party’s association with PAS was merely a political pact to become an effective opposition bloc.
He said such an alliance is normal for all political parties to work together for a common interest.
Aziz however said Sabah’s demographic and cultural diversity does not indicate the party will collaborate with PAS, unlike the case in the peninsula.
The party, he said, respects Sabah’s diversity and Sabah Umno will stand as a political party which represents all Bumiputeras, regardless of beliefs and religious background.
“We have a substantial number of non-Muslim members in the party. We have between 100,000 and 158,000 members from the Kadazandusun Murut community.
“The party belongs to everyone. We are not ethno-centric or religion-centric like other parties in the state.
“We will champion the interests of all as long as it is in line with the provisions set out in the constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63),” he said.
Sabah Umno still has the largest number of Umno members in Malaysia, though its actual number could have declined following its loss in the general election last year.
The party is currently updating its members’ list but it does not expect to see a decrease of more than 20% of its original 500,000 members. - FMT
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