This MoU was proposed by the state Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government.
Sabah DAP secretary Phoong Jin Zhe said this was decided at a meeting by the state DAP council two weeks ago.
“We made a unanimous decision that we will not enter into any form of collaboration, reform agenda or MoU with the current state government,” he told reporters here today.
“The question was whether Sabah DAP should join Sabah Pakatan Harapan to enter the MoU discussions. The meeting did not even discuss the signing of the MoU.”
The Luyang assemblyman said Sabah DAP felt that there was no necessity to have any kind of agreement with the GRS government because the coalition already enjoyed a secure majority in the state assembly.
“So, there’s no need for us to (sign any MoU) in the name of political stability,” Phoong said.
“It’s totally different from the situation at the federal level when Ismail Sabri Yaakob was named prime minister three months ago.”
GRS is an electoral alliance involving Perikatan Nasional, Barisan Nasional and PBS, formed to contest the Sabah state elections last year.
Sabah DAP was originally part of the state PH entourage that presented the seven-point reform agenda to chief minister Hajiji Noor on Nov 15.
A number of political and administrative reforms were proposed in the agenda, including the pursuit of state rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and a post-Covid-19 economic recovery plan.
Analysts have argued that PH’s defeat in the Melaka polls could also be attributed to the MoU which it had signed with Putrajaya.
They said there could be a similar setback for the opposition in Sabah should GRS accept the reform agenda proposal.
Observers have said the essence of the SRA, despite its fine-tuning to suit the state’s needs and issues, was the same as the federal MoU, which was to find common ground to work together and thus create political stability.
There has been mixed reaction within Sabah DAP itself previously. Its chief, Frankie Poon, said he did not believe the SRA would backfire on the opposition, but Sri Tanjong assemblyman Justin Wong told the party to drop the MoU or lose the people’s support.
Phoong said today Sabah DAP was not the one that initiated the reform agenda with GRS.
“Media reports saying that we pushed for it are not true,” he said.
He added that the party had informed Sabah PH of its decision.
Besides DAP, Sabah PH consists of PKR, Upko and Amanah.