SABAH Umno is ready to give up some of its traditional seats to Bersatu if the splinter party can prove that it is capable of winning them, said Bung Moktar Radin.

Sabah Umno will cooperate with all parties aligned to Perikatan Nasional as long as they can guarantee victory in the 15th general election, he said.

“We must talk about this first and put forth a basic principle. That if a party wants seats, it must state on what basis it wants that seat

“The party must be able to get at least 30% to 40% of the vote before Sabah Umno decides whether we can give up our seat to them,” the state Umno leader told The Malaysian Insight.

Despite being left with only two parliamentary seats after the defection of five lawmakers to Bersatu, Umno still has the upper hand because of its historic and deep network at the grassroots level.

This network has helped Umno build one of the most effective election machineries in Malaysia, said the Kinabatangan MP.

Other Umno leaders said its keris logo and the scale symbol of Barisan Nasional are more recognisable than Bersatu’s hibiscus, which was not even used in GE14.

“If we contest, we want to do so and win. If we just do it just to fulfil some seat quota but we lose, what’s the point of contesting? No point contesting because we will surely lose.”

Bung said Sabah Umno is still discussing with PN parties, including Bersatu, on seat distribution and is expecting to finalise this in a month. 

The Sabah chapters of Umno and Bersatu have been involved in a tit-for-tat fight over seats in the event of snap elections.

The feud started when Bersatu deputy minister Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad said Sabah Umno is no longer relevant in the Bornean region after the party lost power for the first time in the 14th general election.

Latiff later backed down from his claim after being clobbered by Umno supporters in social media, while Sabah Umno’s leaders insist that the party take the lion share of seats as in past elections.

Bung retorted that Umno will recontest the same parliamentary and state seats it did in GE14, thus indicating that it will not give any area up.

“Sabah Umno has decided that it will contest in all parliamentary seats that it contested in GE14 and some other seats that it thinks are appropriate,” Bung tweeted.

Bersatu and BN contested against each other in GE14 but are now in an alliance vying for the same Malay-majority rural seats. 

Political analysts said how PN divides up Malay-majority seats between component members Umno, Bersatu and PAS will determine whether it will win a general election.

In GE14, Umno contested 14 of Sabah’s 25 parliamentary seats in keeping with its status as the dominant party in Sabah BN. 

However, it won only half of the 14 seats, leading to Warisan and its allies in Pakatan Harapan winning the state.

Bersatu, which used to be in PH until it defected in late February, was a peninsula-based party until last year when it started setting up a state chapter in Sabah.

The state Bersatu chapter and divisions were formed by five Sabah Umno MPs who left the party to join Bersatu, when it was still PH.   

They are Kudat MP Abdul Rahim Bakri, Azizah Mohd Dun (Beaufort), Ronald Kiandee (Beluran), Zakaria Mohd Edris (Libaran) and Yamani Hafez Musa (Sipitang).

When Bersatu MPs left PH and caused its downfall as a federal government in late February, the five Sabah Bersatu MPs followed suit.

The five MPs and the rest of their party are now in a prickly alliance with Umno – the party they once deserted. – July 19, 2020.