This comes in the wake of an Utusan Malaysia report, quoting Perikatan Nasional secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin, who said Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) parties have agreed to avoid clashing in the election.
Speaking at an event here today, Pairin said the party is willing to cooperate with its allies in GRS though this does not mean it is withdrawing from contesting in any of its seats.
“We are not withdrawing but cooperating to defeat our main enemy (Warisan). For example, if A wins, it is because of B’s help or if B wins, it is because of A’s help.
“There is no possibility of withdrawing because we have candidates using the PBS symbol. If we wanted to withdraw, it would have been before nomination day,” he said during campaigning here today.
Asked to comment on Hamzah’s statement, Pairin said he was not informed of such a consensus among GRS parties.
“Wherever we want to cooperate with our friends, we will cooperate, this is the strategy. But I don’t want to tell you (the media) because this is a strategy.”
He also questioned Kemabong incumbent Jamawi Jaafar’s decision to contest under the Barisan Nasional (BN) ticket for the Melalap seat, having defected to Warisan in 2018, then switching allegiance back to BN just before the dissolution of the state assembly on July 30.
“We are all aware that the Melalap seat has been traditionally contested by PBS. Although we lost in the previous polls, based on tradition, PBS should contest for the seat.
“So, how about Jamawi who before this was the representative for Kemabong and is now contesting in Melalap? This is something that isn’t nice,” he said.
On nomination day, PBS sprang a surprise after fielding candidates in seven additional seats, on top of the 15 it had announced earlier, sparking further clashes between BN and PN parties.
In the initial 15 seats, PBS was to contest eight seats against BN parties – against Umno in Bengkoka, Tanjung Aru and Telupid, against PBRS in Matunggong, Tandek and Kadamaian, and against Sabah MCA in Kapayan and Karamunting.
On nomination day, PBS issued a new list of candidates that showed seven additional seats – Paginatan, Lumadan, Tambunan, Bingkor, Tulid, Moyog and Liawan.
In total, there will be clashes in 17 seats among BN, PN and PBS.
In the Paginatan and Tulid seats, there will be a three-way fight among them, and this does not take into account the other contesting parties.
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