Written by MKINI
Zahid flies to Sabah as political tension brews
Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he will be in Sabah tonight to resolve political tension brewing in the state.
Harian Metro quoted Zahid as saying that an official statement on the situation involving Umno, Warisan, Pakatan Harapan and GRS, ahead of the 17th Sabah state election, will be issued in Kota Kinabalu tomorrow.
“I will fly to Sabah immediately after this event. I will issue a statement in Kota Kinabalu tomorrow,” Zahid was quoted as saying after launching MoodaFest in Kuala Lumpur.
Sabah Umno led by Kinabatangan MP Bung Moktar Radin previously indicated readiness to cooperate with Warisan under party president Shafie Apdal.
The cooperation will see Sabah Umno and Warisan going up against GRS led by Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor, as well as Harapan components.
Previously, Shafie said cooperation between Warisan and Umno is possible in the interest of all Sabahans.
Similarly, Bung Moktar, a former Sabah deputy chief minister, also reportedly admitted to Umno having no reservations to cooperate with Warisan.
All of the parties are a part of the federal unity government after GE15.
Neither GRS nor Warisan have enough MPs to threaten the federal government's hold on power.
Sabah is due for a state election next year, although there is rife anticipation that Hajiji might call for polls this year.
‘False and slanderous’
On a related matter, Umno vice-president Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail denied claims by exiled blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin that Zahid had ordered BN MPs to gather in Cameron Highlands and state their support for Anwar Ibrahim to remain as prime minister.
Instead, the Pahang menteri besar said Zahid, as deputy prime minister, had visited Kampung Orang Asli Sungai Ruil which was hit by a landslide last October, followed by a meeting with Pahang Umno grassroots.
"Therefore, I would like to state that the claims by blogger Raja Petra that the Umno president had ordered all BN MPs to gather in Cameron Highlands to state support for the prime minister is false and slanderous," he said.
"This slander and allegations are made only to sensationalise the 'Dubai Move' issue," he said, referring to Raja Petra's claims that the opposition has garnered 120 statutory declarations to topple the coalition government. MKINI
The holes in 120 SDs claim
Political observers are on alert after a blogger in exile claimed that the opposition has managed to gain around 120 statutory declarations to topple the Anwar Ibrahim administration.
PAS election director Muhammad Sanusi Md Noor - who has been jesting about the subject - is reported to have claimed today that "enough SDs" had been collected, and that the opposition is just biding their time.
However, a review of the allegations by Raja Petra Kamarudin - and the documents he held aloft - found that some claims don't hold up.
What did Raja Petra show?
In a video he posted on Friday, Raja Petra held up three pieces of paper.
The first two were allegedly part of a five-page list of MPs who have withdrawn support for the prime minister.
A closer look at the two pages indicates that it is a list of all 222 MPs.
There are six columns on each page, namely state, constituency, name, coalition party, "setuju" (agree), and "tolak" (reject).
Under the last two columns, the MPs' purported choice is noted by highlighting either the “setuju” or “tolak” column in white, while the other column is greyed out.
The third piece of paper, meanwhile, contains a purported tally of the SD supporters.
What's the tally?
According to Raja Petra's third piece of paper, the SD supporters include 14 from BN - Umno with 11, two from MCA and one from MIC.
The purported list also claimed that Muda, GPS, PBM, GRS, Warisan, and three other Sabah MPs would also be supporting a Perikatan Nasional-led government.
Further, the list claimed that three of the five Bersatu MPs who declared support for Anwar had U-turned, giving the opposition a total of 123 MPs.
Who exactly is defecting?
While the entire list of 123 MPs who allegedly signed the SDs is not available, there is a glimpse from the first two pieces of paper shown by Raja Petra.
The list on the left of the screen is for Perlis, Kedah, Terengganu, and a partial list for Penang.
However, it shows no changes in allegiances.
The page on the right side of the screen, meanwhile, is less legible but can be made out to show a partial list of Johor, as well as Sabah.
From the list, at least one Johor BN lawmaker is alleged to be in support of changing the government according to the list shown.
More notably, however, for the Sabah lawmakers, all three Warisan MPs - whose party is colour-coded purple - are listed as having rejected the SDs, contradicting the tally shown by Raja Petra.
"None from Warisan has ever withdrawn support for the unity government," Warisan's Kota Belud MP Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis told Malaysiakini.
Meanwhile, the list does show that the six GRS MPs, as well as two Sabah BN lawmakers, are allegedly in support of the move.
This includes a lawmaker from one BN party not listed in Raja Petra's tally.
Malaysiakini is attempting to get a response from those implicated by the list.
When contacted, PBM president and sole MP Larry Sng said he had not been approached to sign any SDs.
"It's just rumours," he said.
What's the situation in Sabah?
The contradictions in Raja Petra's documents appear to validate Umno supreme council member Lokman Noor Adam's assertion that Warisan and GRS would not join forces for another political move.
A cursory check on social media also showed that Warisan and GRS appear to be at loggerheads, as momentum for the next Sabah state election builds.
Meanwhile, there has been no public indication that GRS - which has one minister and one deputy minister in Anwar's cabinet - is unhappy with the prime minister.
The state government had last week secured support from the state legislature to begin a long process to take control of Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd - a move that had been greenlit by the Anwar administration.
What about GPS?
Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Openg - who heads GPS - had said on Jan 1 that a change in government would be a "waste of time".
“What is important is the political stability of the federal government. We compete with our neighbours to attract foreign investment.
"But if Malaysia is in a political crisis, who wants to invest in the country?” he added.
Without GPS and its 23 lawmakers, PN can’t get the 112 MPs required to form a simple majority. - MKINI
Written by MKINI
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