KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) leaders have decided to quit the party en-masse today.
Gabungan Rakyat Sabah chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, who was Sabah Bersatu chief, said the decision was made after taking into consideration the current political situation in the country.
"Today, we have made a unanimous decision to leave Bersatu.
"We reached this decision after having considered Malaysia's current political landscape, particularly that of Sabah," he said in a statement.
The state government, led by Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-Barisan Nasional (GRS-BN), has also taken into account the Yang Di-pertuan Agong's advice that the utmost consideration for the formation of the federal unity government, helmed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, should be one of political stability and economic recovery.
He said the move was in the interest of Sabah, for the sake of unity and to fulfil the people's wish and aspiration to fight and struggle under the auspices of a local party.
"With this decision, we will now use GRS to voice out Sabah's interests and that of the Borneon states in Malaysia.
"We are confident this decision will be good for political unity and stability in Sabah.
"Moving forward, we will form a new local party but, in the meantime, we will collectively be members of GRS.
"We pledge our full support to the unity government, and we are confident of Datuk Seri Anwar's leadership and wisdom to lead the country."
He pointed out that the Sabah Maju Jaya vision is to ensure Sabah's economic recovery and that unity among the people prevails.
Hajiji, who is also state Chief Minister, said it is Sabah commitment together with Sarawak as the Borneo Bloc to voice out the people's aspiration and see that the Malaysia Agreement or MA63 will be fully implemented.
"This is because at the federal level, Bersatu is in the opposition while GRS has pledged support to the unity government led by Anwar.
"Sabah wants political stability and unity. We want to ensure momentum of Sabah's growth and development and to see that the state prospers in accordance with the mandate given to us in the last elections."
Hajiji also thanked the Bersatu president and Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for his leadership.