PRIME Minister Anwar Ibrahim has backed Hajiji Noor as Sabah chief minister for the immediate future, confirming his position to reporters in Kota Kinabalu last night.

Anwar said that he also wants the Sabah government to remain strong under Hajiji’s leadership. 

“We will give room to the chief minister to hold discussions and find the best formula for the good of Sabah,” he said.

Anwar thanked Hajiji and Sabah assemblymen for their views, which he said were for the good of the state.

On Friday, Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chief Bung Moktar Radin announced that his coalition was dropping out of state government because it had lost confidence in Hajiji, citing a breach of the agreement between BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN) on governing the state.

Meanwhile, Anwar said the Sabah government had an important agenda to pursue: the bill to hand over the power to regulate gas supply in the state assembly.

“An important bill (will be tabled) to restore Sabah’s rights that I presented to the cabinet, this is a big change and to me, a priority,” he said.

On December 21, Anwar announced that the federal government had agreed to hand over the gas supply regulatory power in Sabah to the state government and that the matter was agreed upon as part of the federal government’s effort to honour the Malaysia Agreement 1963. – Bernama, January 10, 2023.