UMNO is not ruling out the possibility of collaborating with other political coalitions in the upcoming Sabah state election, said its president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Zahid, who is also the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said Umno would contest under the BN banner and the balance scale logo.
When asked whether the party would go solo, he explained that discussions with various parties were ongoing.
“We’ve been meeting with many parties. There are no doors that are fully open, nor fully closed. In other words, space for negotiations and visits remains active,” he told reporters after launching the 2025 Premier Women Empowerment Programme by MARA at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) on Tuesday.
“We’re hoping for a positive outcome. Naturally, it’s not possible to go into detail right now since the state assembly has not yet been dissolved. But when the time comes, we may reach a conclusion to the meetings and negotiations,” he said.
Touching on the issue of seat distribution, Zahid said discussions had not yet reached that stage, nor had they addressed the matter of avoiding multi-cornered contests.
“The most important thing is to maintain an open attitude. Of course, we aim to find more allies than enemies,” he said, joking that BN-Umno would ideally like to contest and win every seat.
On another matter, he confirmed that Kalabakan Member of Parliament Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy’s Umno membership has been suspended.
Earlier in his speech, Zahid, who is also Deputy Prime Minister and Rural and Regional Development Minister, stressed the importance of engaging and supporting the younger generation.
Claiming GRS tended to change its stance once an agreement had been reached, Bung said: “We are still open to working with any local party, but they must be sincere. We don’t want insincerity.
“What I mean by insincerity is that we agree on something today, then tomorrow they change their stand or change their decision on seats or put their candidates as independents for seats which we are contesting,” Bung.
