In a statement, the party’s secretary-general Nelson Angang said the decision was made after taking into account its time in PH and the sentiment among Sabahans for local parties to join forces.

“The Upko Supreme Council has decided to quit PH effective immediately.

“We will officially notify the PH chairman and its components,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as well as PKR, DAP and Amanah.

Nelson went on to say that Upko’s two MPs, president Ewon Benedick and honorary president Wilfred Madius Tangau, will continue to back Anwar’s administration.

He also said that in the past four years that Upko had been with PH, it had always pushed its “Sabah First” agenda when it came to matters linked to the coalition’s election manifesto and at Cabinet meetings.

“However, in that period we noticed a gap between Upko’s stance and that of the PH components at the national level in regards to Sabah’s entitlement to 40% of federal revenue derived from the state and the demand for one-third of the parliamentary seats for East Malaysia.

“There is also the failure to grant autonomy to Sabah PH.”

Upko was a part of Barisan Nasional from 1994 until 2018. It left the coalition after the 14th general election in 2018 to form the Sabah government with Warisan and PH.

It then formally joined PH in August 2021 and contested under the coalition’s banner in Sabah during the 15th general election the following year.

Last night, Ewon resigned as entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister citing Upko’s principle on upholding the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and Sabah’s constitutional rights.

The Penampang MP said he cannot agree with the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ position on Sabah’s entitlement to 40% of federal revenue derived from the state.