Angin, the Sook assemblyman submitted his membership application to STAR president Jeffrey Kitingan, who is also Keningau MP, at a ceremony in interior Sook today.

The move now gives STAR three representatives in the state assembly.

Angin said he had long considered joining STAR despite invitations to join other parties.

“I decided to join STAR for the interest of our state of Sabah, to fight for our rights. That’s what the party has been doing all this while,” he told FMT.

He said he had submitted his resignation letter to PBRS and party president Joseph Kurup on Nov 7 but he had not received a reply.

Angin said a total of 3,855 people were joining STAR today from various parties including Warisan.

Meanwhile, a nephew of former chief minister Musa Aman also submitted his application to join STAR at the same event today.

Annuar Ayub was formerly the Liawan Umno deputy head.

Jeffrey told FMT that he expected Nabawan assemblyman Bobbey Suan, formerly with Upko, to also join his party after returning from his leave.

It is understood that Suan is overseas at the moment.

STAR was the kingmaker after Barisan Nasional tied with the Warisan-Pakatan Harapan alliance at 29 seats during the May 9 polls.

The party then backed BN, resulting in Musa achieving a simple majority, but this was short lived after a series of defections from Sabah Umno and Upko. Warisan president Shafie Apdal was later sworn in as CM.