'It's up to us,' Hadi tells SAPP on contesting Sabah polls

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang has given a stern response to its ally Sabah Progressive Party’s (SAPP) call for Perikatan Nasional to stay out of the Sabah election.

Addressing a press conference this morning, he said PN’s top leadership will decide on this.

“It will be up to us to decide. Not them,” the Marang MP told reporters in Bangi.

Earlier today, SAPP president Yong Teck Lee urged PN to stay out of the state’s next election.

Yong, whose party is affiliated with both PN and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), was quoted as saying that SAPP maintained its stance against national parties contesting in the upcoming Sabah polls.

Asked whether PN has confirmed it will enter the Sabah polls and if PAS has decided how many seats it plans to contest, Hadi said the matter was still in discussion among coalition parties.

PAS will also look into whether it will cooperate with GRS in the state polls.

"We will see which option is better," he added.

PAS’ Sabah dream

Hadi previously said that PAS needed to gain a foothold in Sabah as he saw the party as having a future in the state due to many youths attending its convention in Kota Kinabalu over the weekend.

"PAS must strengthen its position in Sabah. To implement this, we must win (outright) in Sabah or there must at least be seats that we win," he had said.

PAS only has one Sabah assemblyperson - Aliakbar Gulasan - who was appointed when PN was still part of the state government after the September 2020 state election.

The Islamist party has fielded candidates in several seats in previous elections but failed to make headway in the state.

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