The alliance launched a 15-point manifesto that promises to restore Sabah as an equal partner in the federation, issue Sabah ICs to genuine Sabahans, resolve Sabah claims, reclaim oil and gas rights and elevate the status of native courts.
The coalition, which has been overshadowed by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal's Parti Warisan Sabah said on Sunday (March 4) that they are set to give a strong challenge to Parti Warisan Sabah as they compete to be the main opposition to take on Barisan Nasional.
Gabungan chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Noor Mansor told reporters that they do not consider themselves as the main opposition in Sabah but they were confident that they would pose a “strong challenge” in the coming election.
On the possibility of electoral seat arrangements with Warisan, he said that there have been unofficial talks but added that Warisan felt that they were stronger.
Error loading player: No playable sources found
“We leave it at that,” he said, adding that they would talk to any Sabah-based party with no links to peninsular Malaysia based parties.
“We want to work with purely Sabah-based parties. Warisan is a proxy of the national Pakatan Harapan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad," he said.
The four-party Gabungan is also known as United Sabah Alliance (USA).
It is made up of Sabah STAR led by Bingkor assemblyman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, Harapan Rakyat led by Klias assemblyman Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) led by former chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee and Parti Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah (PPRS) led by Mohd Arshad Abdul Maulap.
Mohd Noor said that the coalition has settled 90% of seat allocations for the currently-60 state seats and also the 26 Parliament seats.
“We are fielding more young people and women,” he said.
Three of its party leaders –Dr Jeffrey, Lajim and Arshad – confirmed that they would be contesting while Yong said he would announce his decision later.