As Sabah gears up for its 17th state election on Nov 29, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) will be looking to cement its position at the head of the state government for another five years, hopefully with a stronger presence.
Holder of 42 seats (39 elected, three nominated), GRS held slightly more than a simple majority on the floor of the now dissolved 79-seat assembly — supported by Pakatan Harapan (PH), with seven.
On the opposite side of the floor, Warisan, with 14 seats, was joined in mid-term by Barisan Nasional (BN), with 11, after the national-based coalition, led in Sabah by Bung Moktar Radin, withdrew support for chief minister Hajiji Noor but failed to topple the state government.
GRS and PH have wisely chosen to continue their cooperation, displaying a synergy that Warisan will struggle to match.
For its part, GRS, the dominant coalition in the partnership, can show itself to be a collection of entirely homegrown parties representing Sabahans across all races and walks of life. The presence of PH, led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, assures Sabah’s links to the federal unity government remain strong and secure.
This will stand Sabah in good stead, particularly given Anwar’s hand has been considerably strengthened by Malaysia’s successful outing as Asean chairman this year, which saw even US President Donald Trump in attendance.
While Warisan may offer itself as an alternative avenue for the promotion of the Sabahan sentiment, there is no global dimension it can tap on to effectively draw foreign investment into the state.
Sabahans appear to be floating on air at the moment, after securing a favourable decision in the High Court over its 40% revenue share entitlement, with certain politicians and other high-profile individuals in the state openly calling for the federal government not to appeal and for the accounting process to begin, “or else”.
One, PH state chief Ewon Benedick, even tendered his resignation from Cabinet last week, apparently on a matter of “principle”. His party, Upko has since pulled out of PH. Subsequent events have shown their actions to be premature and unwarranted.
Such knee-jerk comments and reactions are not helpful and risk votes being taken away from the GRS-PH partnership. That may not be in Sabah’s best interests.
Firstly, it will surely affect federal-state relations. Although Warisan is also part of the unity government, it cannot be denied that its link to Putrajaya is much more tenuous compared to the direct line PH offers through the prime minister himself.
Moreover, a return to Warisan risks reigniting the political instability that defined Sabah’s pre-2020 landscape.
Formed shortly after party president Shafie Apdal was suspended by Umno at the height of the 1MDB scandal in 2015, Warisan’s political journey has been blighted by defections and instability.
The party immediately became the landing point for defectors from Umno, PKR and various former members of other Sabah-based parties.
Contesting the 14th general election alongside PH, Warisan won 21 state seats, with then partners DAP and PKR adding eight more. BN also won 29 seats, leaving Jeffrey Kitingan’s STAR, with two seats, the kingmakers.
On May 11, 2018, BN and STAR formed the new state government with Musa Aman sworn in as chief minister, but that administration lasted a mere two days. Six BN assemblymen defected to give Warisan a simple majority, with Shafie taking over the state’s top post.
Last month, Bung himself conceded it was defections, rather than defeats, which saw BN lose power in 2018.
Warisan would itself fail in government, accused by Sabah Umno’s information chief Suhaimi Nasir of “paralysing” the state when in power, and losing at the ballot box in 2020 for that reason and, ironically, as a result of defections.
Despite getting burnt as a result, Warisan once again become embroiled it an attempted power grab in 2023 by resorting to defections, joining forces with BN in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Hajiji.
However, the “Kinabalu Move”, was thwarted after six Umno assemblymen defied the pullout — causing a split in the party’s Sabah chapter and consigning the plotters to the opposition bench.
Sabah BN’s questionable political moves have put it in a bind of its own making.
Currently calling GRS its sworn enemy, BN has chosen to go into the polls in tandem with PH rather than Warisan. BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi clearly wants his coalition to work with Anwar, but has avoided GRS to accommodate local leader Bung, who sees Hajiji as his nemesis.
Hajiji, in contrast, has displayed a pragmatic style of leadership, taking the state to unprecedented economic growth by overseeing a doubling of state revenue over four years to RM9 billion on the back of a successful energy partnership with Petronas.
His GRS-led government has also overseen a boom in the agriculture, tourism and industrial sectors under the state’s Sabah Maju Jaya development plan.
Having weathered the Kinabalu Move and come away unscathed from an attempt to paint him as corrupt via a pseudo mining scandal, Hajiji and GRS appear to be Sabah’s best bet for another five years of growth.
Unless Sabahans choose to revert to chaos. Palis-palis (touch wood).
Amin Ishak is an editor with FMT.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.