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

“When GRS is formalised, all the parties must obey the instructions of the coalition chairman,” said Awang Azman Pawi of Universiti Malaya (UM).

“This will put Umno at a disadvantage because its bargaining power will be lost. It will not want to be trapped like that,” he told FMT.

“Furthermore, Umno does not want to compromise on seats with Bersatu.”

National Council of Professors fellow Jeniri Amir said PBS would also have something to lose with the formalisation of GRS.

“The biggest hurdle would be in having to compromise in terms of seats,” he told FMT.

The parties in GRS are Umno, PBS, Bersatu, PAS, STAR, SAPP, Gerakan, PBRS, MCA and MIC. The coalition’s chairman is chief minister Hajiji Noor, who leads Sabah Bersatu.

“Yes, GRS will be stronger if it becomes official, but those who will actually benefit are the newer and smaller parties, which will feel they have more protection, especially in terms of gaining more seats,” Awang Azman added.

Jeniri said each of the member parties would demand a larger share of seats and GRS would have to iron out that problem before it could move forward.

Last Thursday, former chief minister Salleh Said Keruak 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”.

When approached for his comment, Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin said the matter had to be discussed first among the party leaders in GRS.