KOTA KINABALU, July 29 — Former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman today claimed that he has secured a simple majority to form a new state government in a coalition involving several parties.

However, Musa did not state the majority he has to oust the state government which is led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, who is also Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president.

Musa also announced that he would be leading several Sabah state assemblymen to have an audience with Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin at Istana Negeri soon.

“I wish to inform that a new coalition has been formed with Sabah assemblymen from various parties.

“I also wish to inform that Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin and Datuk Nardin (Datuk Mohd Nardin Awang), the political secretary to the Prime Minister (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin). made a courtesy call on His Excellency Sabah Yang Dipertua Negeri (Tun Juhar Mahiruddin) this morning to inform him of the formation of this new coalition.

“... which supports Perikatan Nasional (PN) under the leadership of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and which obtained majority support to form the new government,” Musa told a press conference at his residence this evening.

The Sabah State Legislative Assembly has 65 representatives, including five who are nominated. The simple majority is, therefore, 33 seats.

The current state government bloc has 45 seats in the assembly while the opposition has 20.

The government bloc consists of Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) with 31 seats, DAP (six), UPKO (two), PKR (two) and four nominated assemblymen.

As for the opposition bloc, Bersatu has nine seats, PBS (four), STAR (three), Independents (two), UMNO (one) and one nominated assemblyman.

Musa said that he had received statutory declarations (SDs) from the assemblymen who had confirmed their stand to support the new coalition headed by him, and added that Tun Juhar had asked him to furnish the SDs.

“(The next step) we will have an audience with His Excellency (Tun Juhar), I will hand over the SDs that have been given to me,” said Musa.

Musa, who is also Sungai Sibuga assemblyman and the sole UMNO representative in the State Assembly, however, did not reveal the name of the new coalition.

Moving forward, Musa said the new coalition government would strive to make things better and come up with more effective policies to bring Sabah out of the critical economic situation it is in now.

Musa said that with the support of the federal government, he believed that together (the federal and state government), they would be able to overcome any challenges and thus spur economic growth, create jobs and raise the standard of living of the people of the state.

“I wish to thank all who have consistently believed in and support me. I hope for nothing more than full commitment and dedication from all people's representatives in the interest of the people's wellbeing,” he said.

--  BERNAMA