KOTA KINABALU: Upko vice-president Lucas Umbul has announced that he and a few others will be joining STAR.
STAR president Jeffrey Kitingan was present to oversee the initiation which was streamed live on Facebook.
“We’re not being forced to join,” Lucas said in his speech.
“We only want to help STAR expand in the Tenom community, regardless of background.”
Before this, Lucas had led Upko’s Tenom division and contested for the Kemabong seat on the party’s behalf in the Sept 26 state elections last year.
However, he lost to Rubin Balang, an independent, in a six-cornered fight.