KOTA KINABALU, Sept 9 — After threatening to pull out of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition if it does not get the seats that it wants, Sabah Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan today said the party will carry on with negotiations in hopes of reaching a compromise.
He said that STAR was mostly still negotiating seats with Parti Bersatu Sabah, even as mere days remain until Nomination Day.
“We hope that by this evening, we will get things done, and in fact, we want to do it before tonight’s function. So, that’s why I’m all set to go,” he said, referring to a PN gathering tonight.
“Every party is now multiracial so they will more or less cover the same seats or all areas,” he said.
Asked by reporters what his next course of action would be if Sabah STAR didn’t get its preferred seat numbers, Kitingan merely replied, “Let’s not talk yet, I will go to the meeting first.”
Kitingan was speaking to reporters at the VIP lounge of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport after returning from Kuala Lumpur today.
Yesterday, it was reported that Kitingan had threatened to leave PN if he did not get to contest at least 15 seats out of some 26 non-Muslim Bumiputera-majority seats.
He accused Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno of being too domineering and insisted that Sabah-based parties should have an equal number of seats to contest.
But after a fresh round of meetings last night with its partners in Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, Kitingan has adopted a calmer stance, saying he was due to meet more leaders in the hopes of a better deal.
BN and Bersatu are set to announce their candidates at 10am tomorrow while the Warisan government is scheduled to announce its list at 9am.
