Kota Kinabalu: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) are joining forces for the first time to ensure a "maximum win" in seats they are contesting in, particularly in indigenous-dominated territories.The decision to cooperate was reached during the parties' Inaugural Presidential Council meet on Tuesday. The three parties would be contesting in 20 state and 10 parliamentary seats in the coming general election.
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From the 20 state seats, PBS would contest in 13, Upko six and PBRS one. As for parliamentary seats, PBS would contest in five, Upko 4 and PBRS one. "It's our desire, goal and commitment to win our respective seats with cooperation from all the BN component parties. But more importantly (we want to win) in KDM-based constituencies. All three parties have committed ourselves to support one another," he told a press conference after chairing the meeting.
Maximus said one of their focused areas involves the mobilisation of their election machineries and coordination."Our main objective in the general election is to go for maximum unity and maximum win," he said.
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To achieve maximum cooperation and election victory, Maximus said the parties have formed an election coordinating committees in all seats contested to assist the Barisan Nasional machineries and the candidates.He said the committee will monitor progress and cooperation as well as deal with sabotage attempts.
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"We will be calling all our division chiefs in seats where the three parties are contesting to regroup them properly and go through with them our modus operandi on how to maximise cooperation during the election," he said.The PBS, Upko, PBRS Presidential Council was formed two months ago with members comprising their presidents, deputy presidents, secretary generals and information chiefs.Maximus assured that the cooperation would continue even after the general election and even did not rule out the possibility the three parties could someday come together as one.When asked about their discussion on seat swaps, Maximus said it was still ongoing.
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He confirmed that among the seats discussed were Kadamaian and Bingkor. Also present were Upko President Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau and PBRS President Tan Sri Joseph Kurup. - Leonard Alaza
