Bung Moktar eyes seat in Sabah polls, to decide on Bersatu cooperation
Bung Moktar Radin, who was tasked to lead and revive Sabah Umno after all but one of the party's assemblypersons in the state previously defected, is now aiming to contest a seat in the upcoming state snap polls.
He confirmed that he will be contesting the new Lamag state seat.
Bung Moktar Radin, who was tasked to lead and revive Sabah Umno after all but one of the party's assemblypersons in the state previously defected, is now aiming to contest a seat in the upcoming state snap polls.
He confirmed that he will be contesting the new Lamag state seat.
"I have declared that my deputy Jefri Arifin, who is also the Sabah Umno secretary, will contest the Sukau seat while I as the Sabah Umno chief will contest the Lamag seat," he was quoted as saying by Astro Awani.
Apart from a failed bid to win a state seat in the 1994 general election, Bung Moktar's involvement in politics has largely at the federal level having been the Kinabatangan MP for five terms since 1999.
By convention, the Sabah Umno chief also serves as the state chief minister if BN forms the state government.
However, Umno's dominance in Sabah has diminished.
Umno won 17 Sabah state seats in the 2018 general election but the number has since been reduced to a single seat after eight assemblypersons defected to Bersatu, seven to Warisan and one to Upko.
On Friday, chief minister Shafie Apdal dissolved the state assembly to stave off a political coup attempt by his predecessor Musa Aman.
All 16 Umno defectors had once again sided with Musa before the state assembly was dissolved.
Bung had said that Sabah Umno was not involved in the coup attempt, suggesting that it was Musa's own initiative.
With snap polls now imminent, Umno and Bersatu are now vying to become the dominant party against Shafie's state coalition comprising Warisan, Harapan and Upko.
Sabah Bersatu chief Hajiji Mohd Noor had said party plans to contest 45 out of 73 state seats, including eight traditional Umno seats which switched hands to Bersatu through defections.
Bung Moktar told Malaysiakini that BN will meet tomorrow to decide on whether to cooperate with Bersatu in the state elections.
Umno and Bersatu are part of the Perikatan Nasional government at the federal level and the Sabah election will be a litmus test if they can overcome overlapping seat claims in the next general election to sustain the coalition in the long-term.
"Sabah Umno will decide on the cooperation with Bersatu in a meeting tomorrow," Bung Moktar said, adding the meeting tomorrow will gather all BN parties in Sabah, namely Umno, MCA and PBRS.
Hajiji publicising Bersatu's intention to contest a majority of seats in Sabah has courted criticism, including from Umno information chief Shahril Sufian Hamdan.
However, Bung Moktar noted that Hajiji said he was open to discussions and welcomed this.
Sabah had 60 state seats in the last general election but 73 seats will be up for grabs in the upcoming state polls that must be called within 60 days from the assembly's dissolution.
The redelineation process in Sabah was completed in 2018 which saw Sabah's state seats increase by 13, but the then BN government had delayed their formalisation due to concerns over Shafie's growing threat in the new constituencies.
BN lost power in both Sabah and at the federal level in the 2018 general election. The Sabah seat increase was finally approved in 2019.
Additional reporting by B Nantha Kumar.
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