Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s Lee Kuok Tiung said this was because they felt joining PPBM would give them better access to the top leadership to fight for Sabah’s rights.
Lee said a direct communication line with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the PPBM chairman, will make it easier for MPs to request development funds for their respective constituencies.
“Basically, Sabah’s politics is still politics of development. The dynamics of this is that it still depends on the government for help.
“This indirectly will give a national party an advantage especially when it’s led by the prime minister.
“When they (former Sabah Umno leaders) join PPBM, they can play their ‘check and balance’ roles from within the government in ensuring the MA63 promises pledged by Pakatan Harapan leaders before this are fulfilled,” he told FMT.
Lee said the former Sabah Umno leaders could also act as “gatekeepers” within the government on issues such as illegal immigrants.
“No one should feel uneasy with it (the Sabah Umno leaders joining PPBM) as it’s healthy competition. I think it is a good thing …Sabahans will be the beneficiaries,” he said.
Mahathir had previously said PPBM would not spread its wings to Sabah but noted that people in Sabah could join the party.
This has added to talks that the five MPs, nine assemblymen, two senators and over a dozen other division heads who quit Sabah Umno last week will eventually apply to become PPBM members.
Lee believes this will happen sooner rather than later.
“It looks very likely they’ll join a national party which is PPBM. As they have been with a national party for so long, their preference will be a national party.
“Indeed, PPBM is the only party that has not entered Sabah,” he said, adding that Amanah had strengthened its position in the state after its president Mohamad Sabu accepted former Gerakan vice-president Liew Yun Fah as a member in Tawau early this month.
Lee said, however, the former senior Umno leaders would face hurdles from Warisan, the dominant party in Sabah.
This is because, with all of them in PPBM, the party could become the main threat to Warisan in future, as both parties have lots of similarities with many ex-Umno members in their fold.
He said Warisan might try to claim exclusive rights in Sabah, using their prior verbal agreement with the latter as bargaining capital.
While he understood there were grouses in Sabah that PPBM’s entry into the state would be akin to Umno’s entry into Sabah in 1991, Lee trusted that Sabahans had a bigger picture of things.
“Sabahans are mature enough to judge by themselves. In politics, there are no permanent allies or enemies, just permanent interests,” he said.
Warisan, the dominant party in Sabah, is not part of PH but is friendly to the ruling coalition at the federal level. It worked in tandem with PKR and DAP in the May 9 polls to bring down BN in the state.
In any case, Lee said, the former Sabah Umno leaders were keen on disassociating themselves from the party which had been the backbone of the country for the last 61 years.
“Bear in mind that in GE14, it was not really about who the voters wanted but it was more like who they did not want.
“Some of the Umno leaders have become liabilities to Barisan Nasional after the general election,” he said, without naming anyone specific.
“As shared by some of the ex-Sabah Umno leaders, they’re breaking themselves free from the political baggage through such a move,” he said.
On Sabah Umno, Lee said even if PPBM were to enter Sabah, it would not necessarily spell the end of Umno in the state.
“Umno will be here for another period of time… (they) wouldn’t vanish just like that as their roots are here. Its survival will depend on whether it will go through a successful rebuilding and rebranding process.
“We never know, one day Umno might come back stronger than PPBM or PKR,” he said.