Awang Ahmad, who is also the Petagas assemblyman, announced his departure from Warisan today, Bernama reported.

He said he decided to quit the party so that he could serve his constituents better, adding that he had been thinking about this for the past three months.

“This decision is made with the support of almost all the committee members of Putatan Warisan,” he said at a press conference, joined by 20 other Putatan Warisan members.

Warisan now has 15 assemblymen in the 79-member Sabah state assembly, while Hajiji has the backing of 49 assemblymen.

Awang Ahmad becomes the fourth Warisan elected representative to quit the party this year, after Mohammad Mohamarin (Banggi), Chong Chen Bin (Tanjong Kapor) and Norazlina Arif (Kunak).

His departure comes less than two months after the failed attempt to unseat Hajiji by Shafie and Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chief Bung Moktar Radin.

Five Umno assemblymen had also quit the party to join Gagasan Rakyat. They had earlier refused to join Bung in his effort to oust Hajiji as the chief minister on Jan 6.

Awang Ahmad, who was previously with Jeffrey Kitingan’s Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR), was elected the Petagas assemblyman on a Warisan ticket in the state election in September 2020.

He won the seat with a slim majority of 261 votes, beating Perikatan Nasional’s Arsit Sidik in a six-cornered contest.

He had first contested for the Petagas state seat in the 2013 general election on a STAR ticket but lost to BN’s Yahya Hussin.

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