KOTA KINABALU: The United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) was today accepted as a new component party of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), said GRS chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

The Sabah Chief Minister said the decision was made at the GRS Supreme Council meeting that he chaired today.

He added that the applications by three other parties, namely Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS), have yet to be decided.

"We truly appreciate their (KDM, LDP and PCS) applications to join GRS but we, in a consensus, feel that we still need a little more time to interact and increase understanding... we need to know each other better first.

"Their applications were received one or two months ago, but our rationale in accepting USNO is because it applied over a year ago. However, we will also involve KDM, LDP and PCS in GRS activities next time," he told a media conference at Menara Kinabalu here today.


Also present were Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili, Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee.

GRS, which was registered as an official coalition in March, comprises Bersatu, PBS, STAR, SAPP and, now, USNO.

Asked about its cooperation with Perikatan Nasional (PN), Hajiji said their focus now was to strengthen the cooperation among the component parties in GRS.

He added that the GRS Supreme Council also agreed to form a solidarity cooperation committee between GRS and Barisan Nasional (BN), which has now forged close cooperation in the Sabah government.

"Our aim is to unite all the parties in GRS and BN so that we can face the 15th General Election together, if possible let there be no contests between GRS and BN," he said.

Meanwhile, Hajiji said GRS would be officially launched at an event to be held at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) here on May 26.

-- BERNAMA