BARISAN Nasional (BN) is ready to take up the mantle of the opposition in Sabah if the coalition’s chairman fails to reclaim the chief minister post, Sabah Umno Information chief Ramlee Marahaban said today.

Ramlee said Sabah Umno has been relatively quiet due to the ongoing meetings held by the party’s branches across the state.

“We have not been saying much lately as everyone is busy with the meetings that have started about two or three days ago.

“We are not running away, but I believe all of us are still tired from the recently concluded elections. And now the meetings had just started, Sabah Umno will be busy again and Insha Allah, we can be a formidable opposition in Sabah,” he told Malaysia Decides via the WhatsApp messaging system.

Sabah BN now comprises only of Umno, PBS, MCA and Gerakan, after Upko, LDP and PBRS had left the coalition after the 14 general election.

BN won 29 state seats in GE14, tied with the Warisan-Pakatan Harapan coalition.

Sabah Umno liaison chief Musa Aman had himself sworn in as the chief minister on May 10 after securing an additional two state seats – Bingkor and Tambunan – which were won by Sabah Star, a long-time opposition party.

Sabah Star’s support came at the price of having all remaining Umno members join PBS to form PBS Plus, which will then ally itself with Sabah Star to form Gabungan Bersatu.

Sabah Star president Jeffrey Kitingan had said Sabah Umno will no longer exist if all went according to plan, eliminating the influence of peninsula Malaysia-based parties in the Sabah government.

But barely 48 hours later, six assemblymen from Umno and Upko defected to Warisan-PH, giving Musa’s rival Shafie Apdal the mandate with 35 seats against 25 state seats.

Shafie was sworn-in as chief minister on May 12, with Musa’s appointment revoked by the Istana Negeri on May 14, a day after Shafie had named his cabinet.

Musa then filed a writ of summons on May 17 to challenge Shafie’s appointment, saying it was unconstitutional for the governor to swear in two chief ministers.

He had named the Sabah governor Juhar Mahiruddin and Shafie as respondents in the summons.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey told Malaysia Decides that the Gabungan Bersatu deal could be called off unless Musa, whom authorities are seeking, holds true to his words.

Musa is believed to to have fled Malaysia. – May 26, 2018.