SANDAKAN: Unity among members of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Barisan Nasional (BN) is important and has to continue to ensure that all plans by the Sabah government to develop the state can be implemented effectively.

Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor said the state needed political stability to implement the state's development policy roadmap, Sabah Maju Jaya 1.0 (SMJ), which is still in the first five years and will be continued with SMJ 2.0 for another five years.

"We are using SMJ to determine our direction (in Sabah) based on the last state election's manifesto and we are taking proactive steps to ensure everything we planned can be implemented.

"This is what we hope for, so let's not fight because if we fight, we cannot focus on making the people's agenda a success," he said after breaking fast with the Batu Sapi community near here today.

Hajiji, who is also state Berstau chairman, said the Sabah GRS-BN coalition was ready to face the election for Batu Sapi parliamentary seat.

The Batu Sapi parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of its elected representative, Datuk Liew Vui Keong in 2020, but a byelection was not held due to the spread of COVID-19.

Hajiji also presented donations to 200 asnaf (tithe recipients) from the Batu Sapi constituency.

-- BERNAMA