PARTI Bersatu Sabah (PBS) is totally committed to Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and will remain loyal to the local coalition, its president, Maximus Ongkili, said.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak affairs) said GRS’s political struggle, as expounded by its chairman, Hajiji Noor, who is also chief minister, at its launch last month, is not only noble and timeless but also based on the people.

He said PBS appreciates Warisan’s interest in working with PBS in the next general election, but the oldest multiracial party in Sabah chooses to remain steadfast with GRS and the coalition’s struggle.

“PBS values Warisan’s political gesture and its president, Mohd Shafie Apdal, to cooperate and collaborate for the next general election. But as a local seasoned multiracial party, we are fully committed and totally loyal as a founding member of GRS and to its partners,” he said in a statement today.

“We invite Warisan and its supporters to subscribe to the same goals to truly develop Sabah and secure a prosperous and safe state, free from illegal foreigners.”  

On May 11 last year, Shafie was reported as saying that Warisan was keen to work with PBS in the spirit of championing the interests of Sabah people.

The Semporna MP repeated that stand yesterday, saying the party is willing to work with PBS in the 15th general election.

Ongkili said any respected local political party in Sabah can subscribe to GRS’s goals and aspirations without seeking to be a member of the GRS family.

He said the need for such political collaboration and partnership has never been so urgent, especially cooperation and solidarity in political unity, not only in Sabah but also with Sarawak.

“Let’s start afresh in our search for political unity as exemplified by the founding parties that helped in the formation of the nation back in 1963,” he said.

“Let us learn from previous lessons of unity first practised by the founding political parties of Sabah in the formation of Malaysia.

“Sabah First, Sayang Sabah and Sabah Bersatu… those are the slogans we should all uphold.” – Bernama, June 7, 2022.