Penampang Upko Youth chief Billy Joe Dominic said the party must insist on contesting under its own banner in the polls as part of sticking to the “Sabah first” principle.

He said Upko must also brace for the possibility of being booted from PH, which it joined in 2021, because of this stand, Jesselton Times reported.

“Upko’s objectives are based on the ‘Sabah First’ spirit, which party president Ewon Benedick has exemplified during his time in the federal Cabinet leading the entrepreneur development and cooperatives ministry.

“Ewon has expressed his stand of not supporting government decisions that contradict the Kota Kinabalu High Court’s Oct 17 ruling regarding Sabah’s 40% right over federal revenue collected in the state,” he was quoted as saying.

Billy also claimed Sabah PKR had belittled Upko and its president over the appointment of Ewon as the head of PH’s state chapter.

He said the issue had not been resolved.

Upko left Barisan Nasional in May 2018 after the 14th general election, to form the Sabah government with Warisan and PH.

After joining PH in 2021, Upko contested under the coalition’s banner in Sabah in the 15th general election the following year.

Ewon had proposed that Upko contest under its own logo in the upcoming state polls to give emphasis to the “Sabah spirit”. However, he said the PH presidential council would make the final decision.

Shamsul Iskandar Akin, senior political secretary to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, said last week that he was confident Ewon would “come to his senses” on the proposal.

Shamsul said it was crucial for Ewon to lead the way in putting up a united front for the coalition since he was the Sabah PH chairman.