KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 4 — Sabah Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee and PN election director Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin should shoulder responsibility for the coalition’s poor performance in the 17th Sabah state election, eight Bersatu division chiefs said today.
The group pushed back against attempts to blame PN chairman and Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for last Saturday’s outcome, saying the accountability lay squarely with the state leadership overseeing preparations and strategy.
The eight division chiefs — Ahmad Ali Akbar Khan Gulan (Lahad Datu), Jupri Omar (Kota Belud), Faizal Julaili (Papar), Ekbal Khalid (Kalabakan), Abidin Sahat (Ranau), Amat Yusof (Kimanis), Mazmin Mazin (Kinabatangan) and Ramli AG Said (Sipitang) — said in a joint statement that the narrative attempting to implicate Muhyiddin was misplaced.
“We, the Bersatu division chiefs in Sabah, want to emphasise that full responsibility for PN’s performance in the 17th Sabah state election lies with Ronald Kiandee and Hamzah, not Muhyiddin as some have tried to portray,” they said.
They claimed that candidates and division leaders were summoned to the state Bersatu office yesterday for what was supposed to be a post-election briefing, but were instead asked to sign a document calling for Muhyiddin’s resignation — something they described as “highly unethical”.
The pushback came a day after Sabah Bersatu secretary Yunus Nordin publicly accused Muhyiddin of being the primary cause of PN’s heavy losses and urged the former prime minister to step aside as Bersatu president.
Yunus had said the state machinery had prepared extensively for the polls but was hampered by internal disputes and disciplinary actions taken against leaders who criticised the PN chairman.
He also alleged that the central leadership failed to allocate funds for the 33 seats Bersatu contested.
But the eight division chiefs said Yunus’ remarks did not reflect their position.
They argued that Kiandee and Hamzah had overseen the coalition’s preparations, strategy and decision-making, and should present the full post-mortem report to the Bersatu supreme council.
“They must explain PN’s performance to the grassroots rather than shift responsibility to others who were not directly involved in managing the state election,” they said.
They added that Yunus, instead of convening a press conference to “point fingers” before the assessment was completed, should help expedite the report. His actions, they said, were irresponsible and amounted to a breach of party discipline.
“We urge the Bersatu and PN Sabah leadership to take responsibility for the Sabah state election’s outcome with integrity and not politicise the matter,” they added.
