KOTA KINABALU, Jan 8 — Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin today said that he has not conceded defeat in the race to form a new state government despite not having the numbers to do so.
Bung, who was deputy chief minister until he pulled support for the state government led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, said that he is still waiting for a meeting between all the main parties and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that will take place tomorrow night.
"We are still waiting for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to come for a meeting at 8pm tomorrow night,” he said when met at the airport after returning from Kuala Lumpur at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport here.
"He is going to see us, Parti Warisan Sabah and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah ... so, we will talk about it then,” said Bung.
He added that Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is also Barisan Nasional chairman will be attending the meeting as well.
Bung who admitted that Hajiji has support from 44 assemblymen to stay on as the Chief Minister, including five Umno assemblyman, said: "It’s okay ... the game is still on."
Earlier, Hajiji told reporters gathered outside his official residence in Sri Gaya here hat he has the support of 44 assemblymen, four more than the 40 seats needed to have a simple majority in the 79-member state assembly.
The 44 are from GRS, Pakatan Harapan and BN.
Bung said that the numbers were a result of Hajiji’s "shopping” of five Umno assemblymen who had decided to go against the party’s stand to pull out.
"Of course, he’s got 44, he took all my men ... he ‘corrupted’ them,” said Bung.
He also dismissed claims over a possible swearing-in of new state ministers at the Istana Negeri any time soon.
On his position as the Deputy Chief Minister, Bung Moktar said, as far as he was concerned, the current GRS government has already collapsed.
"This government was formed together between BN and GRS. I did not quit but we pulled out our support from the government. So, that means we no longer have a chief minister,” he said.
Hajiji had earlier claimed he was still the chief minister as he had submitted statutory declarations (SDs) to the Sabah head of state Tun Juhar Mahiruddin, on Saturday afternoon.
