Razeef, who is also the Sabah PKR information chief, said that when the Anwar Ibrahim-led party was formed in 1999, the state chapter was established immediately.

He was responding to United Sabah National Organisation (Usno) president Pandikar Amin Mulia, who called on the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) to assert its autonomy by urging peninsula-based parties to step aside in the upcoming Sabah election.

Pandikar said his party, along with Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) and Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR), have publicly declared that they wanted GRS to contest all 73 seats.

“This means that we do not want West Malaysian parties contesting,” he told The Malay Mail.

Razeef brushed off Pandikar’s remarks as his personal view

“I am confident that GRS, as a whole, is wiser in choosing the right partners,” he said.

“As for the logo issue, that is their decision,” he said, referring to a statement by GRS deputy chairman Jeffrey Kitingan that national parties who agreed to work with the coalition in the state election should contest under the GRS banner in a show of unity.

The term of the current Sabah government will expire in October 2025.