Gagasan Rakyat EGM elects Hajiji as president

The Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) extraordinary general meeting elected Hajiji Noor as its new president yesterday.

In a statement, Hajiji said the party was a "100 percent local party" that would serve Gabungan Rakyat Sabah's (GRS) objectives.

"The two main characteristics that have attracted me and my friends to be Gagasan Rakyat are that it is a multi-racial party that symbolises inclusivity and it also represents the voice of Sabahans," he said, according to Bernama.

Hajiji, who is the Sabah chief minister, said Gagasan Rakyat's agenda was also in line with the four pillars of GRS' struggle, namely Sabah First, Sabah Forward, Sabah Prosper, and Sabah United.

"We chose and decided that the local formula has the capability to push the agenda on the state’s struggle and interest in the Federation of Malaysia.

“We want the implementation of the federalism system to be more meaningful and valuable based on the Federal Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63)," he said.

Hajiji said he would explain in greater detail the direction of Gagasan Rakyat on March 2.

On Dec 10 last year, 16 Sabah legislative assemblypersons, led by Hajiji, left Bersatu before joining Gagasan Rakyat - a party formed on Aug 28, 2013, but had never won a seat before.

According to Hajiji, GRS accepted Gagasan Rakyat as a component party on Dec 9 last year. Currently, the four other GRS components are Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star), Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), and United Sabah National Organisation (Usno).

The four MPs who left Bersatu along with Hajiji last year will not be joining Gagasan Rakyat to prevent triggering a law that would require them to vacate their seats.

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