Bung said Sabah Umno still has the freedom and authority to decide on technical and strategic matters, including the selection of candidates to be fielded in the elections.

However, BN’s central leadership must make the final decision on election pacts, to avoid schisms at the state and national levels.

“(Sabah Umno’s autonomy) is enshrined in Umno’s constitution. It can’t be done away with just like that. But people are interpreting (the national BN leadership’s decision) in all sorts of ways.

“We were informed that the central leadership needed to make the decision (to form a pact with Pakatan Harapan) early to set the coalition’s direction. They have to determine it because we do not want any clashes at both the state and federal levels,” he told FMT.

On Friday, the secretariat of the unity government coalition announced that PH and BN had agreed to join forces for the  state election, following a meeting by their respective chairmen, Anwar Ibrahim and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Discussions on the form of cooperation would be handled by the state parties but “all decisions will be finalised by the top leaderships” at the national level.

Bung said seat talks had yet to commence with PH, with only preliminary discussions being held.

He said Sabah BN and PH were open to roping in the Sabah ruling coalition Gabungan Rakyat Sabah into their alliance. “However, the alliance may not be as what GRS is hoping for, like asking for more seats,” he said.

GRS chairman Hajiji Noor said on Friday that the party would consider contesting the state election on its own if PH and BN finalised their alliance.