Kota Kinabalu: Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor said all is well within the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) family.
The Chief Minister had a high-tea meeting with all seven presidents of the GRS components at Sri Gaya here, Wednesday, which he described as cordial.
“All (component) presidents pledged to ensure GRS’ victory in the coming elections. I appreciate their views and opinions. They are all matured political leaders and understood the importance of GRS as a united front going into the elections,” he said.
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});Hajiji who is GRS Chairman and Gagasan Rakyat President spent almost three hours with Parti Bersatu Sabah Acting President Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Joachim Gunsalam, Star President Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, Usno President Tan Sri Pandikar Amin, Parti Cinta Sabah President Tan Sri Anifah Aman, Sabah Progressive Party President Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee, Liberal Democratic Party President Datuk Chin Su Phin and Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah President Tan Sri Liew Yun Fah.
Also present was Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) Deputy President Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun.
The GRS leaders met amid differences over seat sharing for the coming state election.
Though the ruling state coalition has yet to officially discuss the seat-sharing formula, internal discussions have suggested that a loose framework has emerged, with allocations of either a single seat or none being offered to some of the component parties.
Many of the component parties have been rejected in the previous election with their party presidents even losing their deposits.
Usno President Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, whose party is eyeing at least eight seats, sparked a public spat when he urged his GRS colleagues not to underestimate his party, which aims to contest native Muslim stronghold seats currently held by the opposition Parti Warisan in the east coast and northern Sabah.
Junior leaders from Hajiji’s Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) then called on the Usno president to leave the coalition if he was unhappy.
Other GRS leaders, including Sabah STAR president Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee, responded strongly, criticising the junior leaders of Gagasan Rakyat for their disrespectful behaviour and political immaturity.