Ikatan Sabah to be officially launched by year end

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Asroh (left) receiving membership application forms to join Ikatan from its Ranau division chief Bensin Dani.

KOTA KINABALU (Oct 25): Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia (Ikatan) Sabah will be officially launched here before the end of the year, said its coordinating chief for Sabah and Labuan, Asroh Sukardi.

Asroh told a press conference on Monday that since spreading its wings to Labuan and Sabah in November 2020, the Peninsular-based political party has garnered a strong following and has now about 10,000 members.

Ikatan, he disclosed, now has divisions in Tuaran, Sepanggar, Inanam, Putatan, Papar, Kimanis, Beaufort, Ranau, Keningau, Beluran, Semporna, Tawau and Kalabakan.

Those who opted to join Ikatan, he said, wanted to see changes in the fate of the rakyat.

“We are not in the opposition, in fact we support the current government and will cooperate with it when it comes to the welfare of the rakyat,” he said, adding that Ikatan Sabah is now going down to the ground to hear the grouses of the people and finding ways to help them.

“We are not saying that the government(s) have not done anything for the people, it has but more can be done,” Asroh stressed, adding that the people need more such as job opportunities and a source of income in order to improve their standard of living.

To this end, Ikatan Sabah, he said, has a few plans on the drawing board, one of them being the setting up of cooperatives in all its divisions with the first one being done in Sepanggar.

“We are also looking at helping school leavers to pursue higher education so that they can get better jobs. Currently we are looking at helping those with at least three credits in their SPM examination by sending them for skills training,” he said.

On a different note, Asroh said Ikatan Sabah has no objections to contesting in the general election if the rakyat want it.

“We are now focused on our activities to help the rakyat, especially those in the interior areas but if the people want us to represent them, we can contest in the election,” he said.