SABAH Umno defectors are playing a waiting game to see if Bersatu and Warisan will come to an understanding to allow them to join the peninsula-based party, said sources.

What is holding them back from joining Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s party is the pre-general election deal between the two parties on encroaching onto each other’s space.

“The deal before the general election was that Warisan would remain in Sabah and Bersatu in Peninsular Malaysia, not spreading its wings to Sabah,” said a source.

“However, this situation is causing problems for the Sabah Umno men who quit their party on December 12 as they are keen to join Bersatu.”

For now, these Umno leaders are waiting for something to happen even though Dr Mahathir had previously said his party would not break its promise to Warisan.

“These leaders are now hoping Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah leader Lajim Ukin can make Dr Mahathir and Bersatu move into Sabah.

“Lajim had a meeting with Dr Mahathir and he convinced the Bersatu chairman to consider the move,” the source said.

“The task at hand is to recruit 100,000 new members from Sabah, including the former Sabah Umno guys,” he added.

On December 31, Lajim said the party distributed 64,000 forms in 24 divisions and reserving the rest for like-minded politicians who also want Bersatu in Sabah.

“The Bersatu forms are specially printed forms to show that it is meant for Sabah,” said the source, adding that these will be available from February.

The plan now is that Lajim has about one month to complete the recruitment drive to allow Bersatu to open a chapter in Sabah latest by March.

“This is why the former Sabah Umno guys are not making any sudden move or publicised their plans. They are quite upbeat that Dr Mahathir will change his mind about Sabah.”

Critics have said that Lajim’s actions is a move to save his political career after his party did not win any seat in the 14th general election last year, adding that he has abandoned his old coalition United Sabah Alliance.

According the sources, if Lajim is able to pull this off, he will be appointed Sabah Bersatu’s temporary vice-chairman and given a “senatorship” as reward for expanding Bersatu in the state.

“This coincides with the end of term for many Barisan Nasional-appointed senators.

“One of the positions will be offered to Lajim,” he said.

The Sabah Umno defectors will also not be given any post in the party immediately, he said.

“During this time, the former Sabah Umno reps will only come in as regular members with no special position.

“There’s still time for the former Sabah Umno leaders to lead the party before the GE15 is called,” he said.

The defectors are willing to wait to see if this plan materialises and this is why their initial move to be close to Warisan has cooled off.

“Almost all of them were negotiating with Warisan leader Mohd Shafie Apdal to join his party.

“But Shafie is not offering any ministerial post or position in his government to the newcomers and that is why they have decided to wait for Bersatu,” a source from among the defectors said.

Among those in contact with Shafie were Hajiji Mohd Noor, as well as former secretary Masidi Manjun.

“The talk just stopped immediately when the idea of Bersatu came about,” he said.

The future of the former Umno assemblymen has come under the spotlight after Tampasuk assemblyman Musbah Jamli joined Warisan earlier this week, fuelling talks that more would follow in his footstep.

Receiving Musbah into Warisan, Shafie indicated that he had several rounds of talks with Musbah before the former Umno member decided to join the ruling party.

Shafie added that he is in talks with several more Umno men to join Warisan but they pleaded for time to decide.

Five MPS, nine assemblymen and a couple of senators quit Sabah Umno to become independent reps on December 12. – January 28, 2019.