Kota Kinabalu: Gerakan Kuasa Rakyat Malaysia (G57) Chairman Datuk Zulkarnain Mahdar said both Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin should resign from their party posts, as the crushing defeat of Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) Sabah in the 17th Sabah state election can no longer be excused.
He said BN’s victory in only six out of 47 seats was the clearest possible indication that Sabah voters had lost confidence in the BN.
Zulkarnain said the collapse was long predicted, driven by an inability to read the expectations of younger voters who demanded integrity, reform and credible leadership.
He pointed to the tight result in Lamag where the Sabah Umno-BN Chairman Bung could only secure a majority of 153 votes – easily the worst in his career.
Bung received 3,908 votes, while the Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) candidate garnered 1,646 votes and a former GRS leader running as an Independent drew 3,755.
He said Bung would have lost had the votes against him not been split as combined, their 5,401 votes would have left Bung losing by over a 2,000 majority.
He said Umno Sabah’s overall performance reflected not just weak strategy but a profound leadership failure at both state and national levels.
Zahid and Bung, he said, failed to grasp the new political realities in Sabah where voters now dared to punish parties that refuse to change or sidelined grassroots voices.
“In any mature political system, a defeat of this scale warrants accountability. Resignation is not a sign of weakness but a moral and political responsibility,” he said.
“Sabahans had sent the loudest possible message through the ballot box – they reject leaders they see as no longer relevant.
Hence, Zahid and Bung should seriously consider stepping down and respect the people’s mandate.
