Sabah Umno targets 14 MP seats

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Umno has set a target of contesting at least 14 of the total 25 parliamentary seats in Sabah in the 15th General Election (GE15).

Sabah Umno Chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin (pic) said the 14 seats were those contested by the party in GE14. 

They are Kudat, Kota Belud, Sepanggar, Papar, Kimanis, Beaufort, Sipitang, Tenom, Beluran, Libaran, Kinabatangan, Silam, Semporna and Kalabakan. However, Umno now has only two MPs, namely Bung (Kinabatangan) and Datuk Mohamad Alamin (Kimanis).

Should Umno get its way, that leaves only 11 parliamentary seats for its allies in the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) State Government – PPBM, Star, SAPP and PBS.

Bung said the party’s Election Affairs Unit (Juara) would conduct a study to determine suitable seats to be contested, by taking into account several factors, including the people’s support in each constituency.

“Sabah Umno expects that the seats to be contested by Barisan Nasional (BN) will be not less than the number of seats it contested in the 14th General Election (GE14).

“We want to win the GE15 to form a government. Therefore, each seat, geopolitics, voters’ needs and locality need to be studied,” he said in a statement, Monday, after chairing a Juara meeting at the party headquarters here on Sunday.

Also present at the meeting were Sabah Umno Deputy Chairman Yakub Khan, Secretary Jafry Ariffin and Sabah Umno GE15 Director Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak.

Bung said research by Juara and the research secretariat chaired by Tanjung Keramat Assemblyman Datuk Shahelmey Yahya supported the party’s belief that these are the seats it has a good chance of winning.

“We will, however, finalise which seats to be contested by Umno-BN in the near future,” he said.

Bung said early negotiations over seat allocations between BN and GRS should be carried out in a transparent manner based on the strength of the respective parties.

He also reminded State Ministers and Assistant Ministers to be more proactive in going to the ground to address the plight of the people during the Covid-19 pandemic and the Movement Control Order (MCO) period.

“I hope all Umno elected representatives will maintain their momentum and continue to work for the people and not just be seen working only during election time,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Lamag Assemblyman said Sabah Umno would hold its 30th anniversary celebrations this Saturday (February 20) at the Umno Building, here.