The deputy chief minister said the proposal by Sabah Umno’s Usukan assemblyman Salleh Said Keruak to formalise GRS could only be taken as the latter’s personal view.

“The matter must be looked at in detail, especially the pros and cons,” he told reporters when met at the Likas sports complex here.

When it was pointed out to the Kinabatangan MP that Salleh had proposed the registration in order to avoid seat clashes in the coming general election, he said: “Yes, but that could be his personal view.

“But we will look into this and Sabah Umno is prepared to discuss the best way forward.”

Bung had also been non-committal previously, saying the matter had to be discussed first among GRS party leaders.

Analysts yesterday said they expected the more established member parties of GRS to resist any attempt to get the coalition registered.

They added that Umno, for example, would not want to be tied down to any pact other than Barisan Nasional, which it leads.

On Thursday, Salleh said GRS needed to be officially registered in order to put the coalition on a strong footing.

Following that, deputy chief minister Jeffrey Kitingan, the STAR president and GRS deputy chairman, indicated that not every party was keen on the idea.

He said his party had earlier on been tasked with the registration and had made efforts to do so since last year but had “hit a brick wall”.