LETTER | Sabah ran into yet another round of political crisis when 12 assemblypersons from Umno officially retracted their support from chief minister Hajiji Noor, amid an alleged failed political coup in cooperation with Warisan led by Mohd Shafie Apdal.

The politicians involved, including Sabah BN chairperson Bung Moktar Radin, have claimed that Hajiji’s chief minister’s position is no longer constitutionally legitimate after he announced Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), a political coalition he leads, was leaving Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Bersatu, in a move trying to separate East Malaysian politics from West Malaysia.

According to Sabah’s state constitution, the chief minister must be the assemblyperson from the political party which holds the most seats in the state assembly, prescribing that party affiliation is compulsory if one wishes to become Sabah’s chief minister.

This is the ground utilised by the group of politicians led by Bung and Shafie to attack Hajiji (above), slamming him as “partyless” after he separated GRS from PN and left Sabah Bersatu.

However, GRS is an officially registered political party under the Registrar of Societies (RoS).

Though it is a political coalition formed by several smaller parties, one can still be a member of GRS without actually being a member of any of its component parties.

Therefore, despite a new party still pending after Hajiji left Bersatu, he is still a member of GRS, granting him the constitutional right to become the chief minister as long as he holds the majority support from other assemblypersons.

Bung and Shafie’s attempt at a power coup can be seen as a move to oust GRS from being the state government - so that Sabah’s state power can be closely affiliated with the federal government dominated by Pakatan Harapan (Harapan) and BN.

We shall not forget that Warisan has already forged a partnership with Harapan at the federal level after GE15 by supporting Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Hence, it is normal for Warisan and BN to try to seize Sabah’s state power, so that more benefits and patronage could be distributed to them.

Nevertheless, it is still ironic that Sabah Harapan has declared its support for Hajiji and publicly asserted that it will not support any attempts to form a backdoor government.

At the federal level, Anwar has been silent on the issue, maybe due to his attempt to present an executive image of “focusing on policy-making and people-based work” instead of “continuously politicking” which had been constantly done by the previous Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administrations.

For Warisan and BN, now is probably the worst time for a power coup. Internally in Sabah, maybe they are capitalising on the separation of GRS from PN to easily buy over support due to its unstable party structure.

But externally, the move is not only against the people’s demand for “frog-free politics”, but it would also jeopardise the stability of the federal government.

Now that Sabah Harapan has declared support for Hajiji and it is likely for Anwar to follow the call at the federal level.

However, Sabah BN has retracted support for Hajiji. Is BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi aware of this? How would he react? It is clear that when it comes to Sabah, Harapan and BN are on different tracks in terms of supporting the government.

Anwar, Zahid must crack the whip

If not dealt with properly, BN and Harapan’s cooperation at the federal level would also be affected, which may lead to yet another round of government downfall and nationwide political instability. Not to say GRS may also retract support for Anwar at the federal level if they are eventually ousted in Sabah.

Now, the best way forward for Anwar and Zahid is probably taking disciplinary actions towards those involved in the Sabah coup, while declaring support for Hajiji on behalf of their parties.

Even if GRS continues administering Sabah, they are still an ally of Harapan and BN at the federal level, which is an essential part of Anwar’s administration, granting the current federal ruling party some control over the resources and development of Sabah.

These irresponsible and power-hungry leaders must be held accountable in order to protect nationwide political stability and democratic principles.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini