PBS secretary-general Johnny Mositun was quoted by The Borneo Post as telling members and supporters to, therefore, stay focused on the coming 14th general election (GE14).

Mositun, who is also PBS Pantai Manis division chief, was speaking to PBS division and branch leaders at a briefing on preparations for the party’s branch and division elections next year, and GE14.

Nointein recently resigned as PBS Youth chief and joined Parti Warisan Sabah led by former Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal.

He had claimed that he and his supporters were joining Warisan and that PBS itself would soon leave the BN.

Mositun said Nointein was not being “totally honest” and that as youth chief he had been at odds with the party leadership on many issues.

“Then in our 29th congress he sided with the faction opposed to Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili, the acting president. His position in PBS became untenable, so he left. He probably thinks his political fortunes will be better with the opposition,” Mositun said.

According to The Borneo Post, Mositun said only a few members had left the party to join opposition parties the last several months.

“That is not unusual or unexpected since Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) people in the interior districts are being wooed by several KDM parties, and with GE14 approaching, this moving in and out of one party to another happens all the time. We lose some, we gain some,” he was quoted as saying.

He added that, from the feedback he had received, all might not be well within Warisan as there seemed to be several factions within it.

The report quoted Mositun as saying that despite anti-BN and anti-West Malaysia sentiments being whipped up by the opposition, the BN was capable of retaining its two-thirds majority in the general election.