PENAMPANG: The National Unity Organisation of Sabah (PERPADUAN) has set an ambitious goal to contest 50 DUN seats in the forthcoming state election, marking a significant milestone since its establishment over a decade ago.
President Jack J. Giau announced that the targeted DUN seats will include areas with KDM, Bumiputera Islam, and areas with a substantial Chinese voter base.
“We have already identified candidates and the DUN areas we will contest, but PERPADUAN will not field candidates in regions where victory is unlikely,” he stated.
Jack emphasised that the leadership of PERPADUAN is committed to avoiding recycled leaders with a history of misconduct.
He made these remarks during a press conference at The G Building Bundusan, near here, today.
Jack explained that PERPADUAN chose not to participate in the previous election due to the overwhelming number of registered parties involved.
“In past election cycles, our party has supported several candidates from the government. We believed that the Sabah government at that time was stable, which is why we did not field candidates in the last election,” he added.
According to Jack, there are several factors motivating the party’s participation in the upcoming state election, one of which is the current government not being the choice of the people but rather a result of a Statutory Declaration (SD).
He stated that PERPADUAN is committed to combating corruption and eliminating cronyism and nepotism while also striving to uphold the equal partnership system agreed upon in the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
Jack mentioned that if given the mandate, the party intends to change the title of the Chief Minister of Sabah to Premier and the Assistant Minister to Deputy Minister.
He emphasised that PERPADUAN will not adopt the narrative of ‘rejecting Malayan parties’ to gain public support, asserting that Sabah, as part of the Federation, should maintain a good relationship with the federal government.
“However, at the state level, the Sabah government should ideally be managed and administered by our own people,” he stated.
