KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional (BN) joined the Sabah government led by Hajiji Noor due to “political realities” following last weekend’s state election, its chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.
Zahid said although BN and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) did not contest the election as allies, the post-election situation had prompted a new arrangement.
“We knew GRS didn’t have enough seats to form a government at that time. They only had 29 seats, while BN had six,” he told reporters after launching the 2025 Cyberjaya Conversations Summit here today.
“This is the reality in politics. We cannot be rigid (about the situation). It must be accepted for (political) stability in Sabah,” he said when asked about BN’s role in the GRS-led state government.
BN’s Sukau assemblyman Jafry Ariffin was made tourism, culture and environment minister in the new state administration.
This was despite calls from Umno and BN Youth chief Dr Akmal Saleh for the coalition’s Sabah chapter to remain in the state’s opposition with Warisan and Perikatan Nasional.
Akmal said this after BN put up its worst electoral performance in Sabah in decades, winning just six of the 45 seats it contested in the Nov 29 polls.
He claimed the public wanted BN to be in the opposition to “see us change for the better”.
