The prime minister, who is PPBM chairman, said the matter had to be discussed first by the party’s top leadership.

“We make decisions at meetings. We have to hold a meeting of the Supreme Leadership Council first (to decide whether to spread our wings to Sabah),” he told reporters.

Mahathir was asked to comment on a statement by independent Sulaman assemblyman and former Sabah Umno Liaison Committee chairman Hajiji Noor that PPBM would spread its wings to Sabah soon.

Following Hajiji’s statement, Sabah Chief Minister and Warisan president Mohd Shafie Apdal said he hoped that the peninsula-based PPBM would keep its word not to spread its wings to Sabah as per a “sibling agreement” reached during the 14th general election last year.

On another matter, Mahathir said he had yet to be briefed fully on the issue of the academic certificate of Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Yahya, who is also PPBM secretary-general.

“We haven’t found out what really happened,” he said when approached after he had delivered a keynote address at the Premier Unity Gathering, in conjunction with Penang State Unity Day and the 15th anniversary of the Penang State Consultative Goodwill Council, at Dewan Sri Pinang, here.

A Facebook post on Feb 3 had claimed that Marzuki had deceived the people by stating that he had obtained a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Cambridge through a distance-learning programme, which reportedly the university did not offer.

A day later, political activist Muhsin Abdul Latheef lodged a police report over the claim, and Marzuki responded by saying that he would produce the proof.

Subsequently, several news portals reported Marzuki as saying he had obtained the degree from the Cambridge International University in the United States and not the University of Cambridge in England.