Sabah BN chairman Bung Moktar Radin said the collaboration between BN and PH is not a new development, having already been tested in several by-elections in Peninsular Malaysia before being extended to Sabah.

“It has already taken place in four or five by-elections, so Sabah is not being used as a testing ground for the cooperation,” he was quoted as saying in a Sinar Harian report.

Bung reiterated that the goal of the cooperation is to ensure political stability and gave an assurance that there will be no conflict among Umno, BN and PH in Sabah.

The Kinabatangan MP was responding to Gabungan Rakyat Sabah secretary-general Masidi Manjun, who took a swipe at BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for saying that the Sabah election would be a “laboratory” to test the cooperation between BN and PH.

Masidi said using Sabah as a mere test subject would be detrimental to the state.

Bung said Zahid’s remarks were not intended to embarrass Sabahans, but to highlight the political strategies for BN and PH.

“To me, that’s a statement from someone who doesn’t understand politics because politics requires strategy. Some strategies need to be presented for public knowledge, while others do not,” he said.

He also said Masidi’s remarks stemmed from a desire to avoid a clash between GRS and the BN-PH alliance in the upcoming state election.

“Masidi wants PH to fight with BN, but that doesn’t make sense. How can the prime minister (Anwar Ibrahim) and deputy prime minister (Zahid) fight over a single state? Would they be willing to lose the country over one state? Of course, not,” he said.