KOTA KINABALU, April 2 — With no clear political partner to head into the next state elections with, Sabah Umno is looking at a line-up of mostly new faces to fill up the 79 state seats, with an emphasis on strong party loyalty.
Its chairman Datuk Bung Moktar Radin said that the party was going through a rigorous screening process to look for new candidates.
“We can’t reveal any names yet but we are in the process of filtering.
“They have to be liked by the people, have the winning factor, have integrity, won’t jump, and must not be influenced by material gains,” he said.
He added that the candidates have been told to go down to the ground and get to know the constituents.
Bung said the party wanted to get rid of elected representatives who were not fully aligned with the party's struggles.
“It's not about whether they are aligned to me, but with the party. We don’t want those who are not transparent and have no loyalty to the party," he said during an event last night.
He said admittedly there was no guarantee that their candidates would not jump parties once elected, but quipped that they would “tie them tightly” and “wash their souls”.
“But of course, no SD (statutory declaration), no oaths can ever really prevent them from jumping. Look at Sipitang’s Dr Yusof, he made an oath but he ended up eating his own words,” he said, referring to Datuk Dr Yusof Yaacob, a Parti Warisan elected representative who quit the party in 2021 to join Umno and later on, Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (PGRS).
Recently Bung was reported saying that Umno Sabah was targeting at least 23 out of 76 state seats in the coming election.
Asked whether the party was considering working with Pakatan Harapan, he said that they were open to working with any sincere party.
“But we don’t want a party with no integrity and can go back on their word after agreeing,” said the Kinabatangan MP.
