ANN/THE STAR – Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia has given its tacit backing for Hajiji Noor, who ditched the party late last year, in a bid to stave off an attempt by Barisan Nasional (BN) to unseat him as Chief Minister.
The surprise play of support for Hajiji came from Bersatu secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin who told reporters that Sabah BN had breached a cooperation agreement with Perikatan Nasional (PN) prior to the 2020 Sabah election.
“If we want to follow what is done by United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), it can spoil Sabah. The agreement when Hajiji and Bung were appointed was that it was supposed to be accepted by all,” he told reporters on Sunday.
Hajiji, said Hamzah, was appointed based on the deal between PN and BN (UMNO).
“So, UMNO was supposed to follow the deal back then,” he said.
Hamzah also described what went on between Hajiji and Bersatu as being akin to a fight between adik-beradik (siblings), which was an internal affair, while BN or UMNO was like their neighbour.
“But for the state and the people, how can UMNO do this kind of thing?
“You must separate siblings and neighbours.
“My problem with my adik-beradik is between me and my adik-beradik.
“But my problem with my neighbour, I ask: ‘Hey, what are you doing? You had an agreement with my adik-beradik,” he said.
Hamzah said in this crisis, some Sabah ex-Bersatu assemblymen are still keen to remain with the party but chose to stick with Hajiji for the current Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government to remain.
“I don’t want to spoil the state leadership. I’ve spoken to them (ex-Bersatu assemblymen) and they say their hearts are with Bersatu but to ensure that the current government stays, they’d like to remain with Hajiji,” he said.
He said this was what the assemblymen wanted at this juncture, adding however that “next time, we don’t know”.
On December 8, Hajiji had led an exodus of leaders out of Bersatu and subsequently became GRS direct members.
GRS kicked out Bersatu as a member of the coalition.
Hamzah said, however, when he mentioned that the assemblymen wanted to make sure that Hajiji remained as the Chief Minister, that that was what they wanted at this juncture.
Earlier, asked whether Bersatu was currently with GRS to stop UMNO from taking over the state government, he said: “Not really.”
He said Bersatu was also waiting for the Registrar of Societies to say whether GRS could really sack Bersatu from the coalition and on what grounds.
