Its information chief, Suhaimi Nasir, said such an arrangement is crucial to prevent a repeat of party-hopping and betrayal, which could destabilise the future state government, Berita Harian reported.

“An MoU is a must. Ideally, it should be formalised with a stamped document, because Sabah’s politics are extremely fluid and full of manoeuvring,” he was quoted as saying, citing loopholes in the anti-party hopping law.

“For example, BN and PH may collaborate, but within PH there are multiple parties, and the same goes for BN. If a party leaves and joins another coalition, the majority could be lost.

“This isn’t impossible because the anti-party hopping provision doesn’t cover parties as a whole but only elected representatives as individuals,” he said at a press conference yesterday, according to Berita Harian.

Suhaimi said Umno has always shown good faith by trusting other parties, only to be betrayed repeatedly – resulting in political instability in Sabah.

He said such actions have created negative public perception and led to a trust deficit in politicians.

“Umno has been too trusting. We’ve been stabbed in the back multiple times. In 2022, for example, we were betrayed by GRS (Gabungan Rakyat Sabah).

“Who should have led the (state) government after the September 2020 state election? Who won the most seats? We did, yet we ended up taking a back seat.

“Even when positions in the government were being distributed, we were still sidelined. That’s because the power lay with PN (Perikatan Nasional), which led the federal government at the time (2020).

“So going into the 17th state election, we hope any coalition or alliance is built on a firm and genuine understanding. If not, we’ll be afraid to commit,” he said.