Gabungan Sabah to launch charter Nov 20

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KOTA KINABALU: Gabungan Sabah (United Sabah Alliance) in preparation for the 14th general election will be launching its charter on November 20 at the Dewan Hakka in Tanjung Lipat.

Organising chairman of the event, Japiril Suhaimin, said they expected more than 2,000 people coming for the launch which is scheduled to commence at 2pm.

During the launch, Gabungan Sabah will also unveil its 15 core struggles which would later be added to its manifesto, Japiril said.

Speaking to reporters at the Sabah Progressive Party’s (SAPP) headquarters here yesterday, the party’s vice president disclosed that they have invited Parti Warisan Sabah, Parti Harapan Sabah, Parti Perpaduan and other local opposition parties to the event.

“Parti Warisan replied to say that its president is unable to attend as the party is still putting its house in order. We hope that they will consider sending a representative to the launching ceremony.

“Parti Harapan will be sending its supreme council members to the launch,” he said, adding that the launch is open to the public and those interested are welcomed to attend.

He disclosed that at the moment Gabungan Sabah consists of three local opposition parties, namely SAPP, Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) and Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) as well as a few NGOs that share the same patriotic struggle for Sabah.

“After two years of joint events like Sabah Day in Kundasang in 2015 and Kota Marudu in 2016 as well as the Batu Sumpah ceremonies in 2015 and 2016, Gabungan Sabah is now ready for the launching of our joint charter,” he said.

Japiril said that the various views of the Gabungan components had converged sufficiently for them to achieve a strong political force and it encouraged the coalition to launch the charter.

“The feedback from the grassroots is that they want the opposition parties in Sabah to unite and that is why we have extended the invitation to all the local opposition parties to join us or to at least work together with us to ensure that we have a straight fight with the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the 14th general election.

To a question if the desired ‘one to one’ fight against BN is achievable, Japiril replied, “Yes, achievable but we work with an open mind. Gabungan Sabah is very open that is why we signed the declaration on Tuesday”.

He said that the three parties in the declaration agreed to work together to identify state and parliamentary seats that Gabungan Sabah intended to contest and cooperate on the said seats distribution within Gabungan Sabah for the forthcoming general election.

More importantly, in adopting a common election manifesto, they agreed to not contest against each other at either state or parliamentary seats, he said, adding that the declaration among others stated on the adoption of a common election manifesto and to liaise and cooperate with any other local opposition parties or organisations in the next elections for regime change in Malaysia towards a new order in Sabah.

The positive steps were realised to meet the people’s aspirations to see a one-to-one contest against BN in the next general election, he said, adding that the three parties would formulate and adopt a common election manifesto toward using a common party symbol in the election.

Japiril also said that Gabungan Sabah was ready to talk to national opposition parties on the possibility of working together in the 14th general election with the aim to have a straight fight against BN.