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| Date | 6 January – 12 February 2023 (2023-01-06 –2023-02-12) |
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| Location | Sabah,Malaysia |
| Also known as | Kinabalu Move (Malay:Langkah Kinabalu) |
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The2023 Sabah political crisis or widely reported on local media asLangkah Kinabalu or theKinabalu Move, began on 6 January 2023, when thestate government ofSabah led byGabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) collapsed when its coalition partyBarisan Nasional (BN) withdrew its support.[3] The Leader of UMNO Sabah, a component party of BN,Bung Moktar Radin, Kinabatangan Member of Parliament (MP) and Lamag Assemblyman, cited a lack of confidence in the leadership ofChief Minister of SabahHajiji Noor in the withdrawal.UMNO Sabah want tochange support from supportingGRS coalition to supporting theWARISAN Plus coalition.[4] On 9 January, both Malaysian leaders, prime ministerAnwar Ibrahim and deputy prime ministerAhmad Zahid Hamidi travelled to Kota Kinabalu to meet with Sabah political leaders.[5] This crisis resulted in the approval of theAnti-Switching Parties Law[6] inSabah(approved in 25 May 2023) and the GRS coalition succeeded in retaining the government.[7]
As of 6 February, there have been no changes in the status quo regarding the government of Sabah, following the decision of 5 UMNO MLAs who publicly supported Hajiji despite Bung's decision, and a reshuffle of the state cabinet on 11 January as a result.[8] As of 25 May 2023, Sabah State Legislative Assembly finally approved theAnti-Switching Parties Law (Anti-frogs habit).[9]
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In 2018, after BN's loss at the2018 Malaysian general election at the federal level toPakatan Harapan (PH), Sabah-based BN component parties,United Sabah Party (PBS),United Sabah People's Party (PBRS),Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) andUnited Pasokomomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO; now a solo United Progressive Kinabalu Organization) have left BN Sabah in response to their loss, leaving onlyUMNO Sabah and MCA Sabah as component party;Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) had already left the coalition in 2013.This causedMusa Aman lost his majority as Chief Minister in favour ofWARISAN'sShafie Apdal.
Hajiji Noor, UMNO Sabah chairman and Sulaman Assemblyman, together with other members, includingRonald Kiandee,Azizah Mohd Dun andMasidi Manjun, have left the party in a mass resignation to joiningSabah chapter of BERSATU, stated that they want to establish a new local-based independent coalition for all Sabah-based parties to replace BN. Bung Moktar Radin, sole surviving UMNO Sabah member, said he wants to rebuild the party when elected as the new state chairman.
In 2020, in facing of the upcomingstate election, then Prime MinisterMuhyiddin Yassin met Hajiji to talk about a possibility to make a new local political coalition. Hajiji officially become a founder of the new coalition and formingGabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) to topple WARISAN+ government. The decision was agreed, using the formula ofGabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), which promotes the unity between the party leaders and the people of the state.
Prior to the election, GRS was formally launched to the public by Muhyiddin and Hajiji, initially organised by BN, PBS andPerikatan Nasional (PN).
In that election, GRS secured 38 seats, more than the simple majority needed to form the new government, defeating WARISAN. Hajiji was officially appointed as new Chief Minister byGovernorJuhar Mahiruddin in post-election, succeeding Shafie.
In 2022, the Registry of Societies (RoS) formally registered GRS as a coalition political party. At the time of its registration, the coalition, consists of PBS, SAPP,Homeland Solidarity Party (STAR), the newUnited Sabah National Organisation (USNO Baru) and formerly BERSATU Sabah, were the latest parties to joining it, all of them were formerUnited Borneo Alliance (UBA) andUnited Alliance of Sabah (GBS) components.
A second local based coalition party in Sabah, and second in East Malaysia after Sarawak-based GPS, none of the peninsula-based parties were involved in the newly registered GRS.Hajiji Noor later elected as the first registered chairman, assisted byMasidi Manjun,Yong Teck Lee,Pandikar Amin Mulia,Jeffrey Kitingan andJoachim Gunsalam.
In 2023, in response to PN's defeat and alsoMuhyiddin's religious statement controversies(The "Christianization" remarks and racism)[10] in the15th general election[11] besides hiscontroversial rule asPrime Minister between 2020–21, Hajiji announced that he and all members ofBERSATU Sabah have resigned from the party, vowing to form a new political party to reclaim the autonomy of Sabah, that ultimately created Direct Members of GRS to allowing independent assemblymans to joining it. Among the members of Direct Members are Members of the Parliament. They areRanau'sJonathan Yasin,Papar'sArmizan Mohd Ali (current federal minister),Sipitang'sMatbali Musah andBatu Sapi'sKhairul Firdaus Akbar Khan (current federal deputy minister). The only known survived members were Ronald Kiandee and Azizah Mohd. Dun, who still pledges to the party. But later in May 2023, Azizah Mohd. Dun also become a Direct member of GRS and officially become women wing chief of GRS coalition.Juil Nuatim also officially become one of theDirect Members ofGabungan Rakyat Sabah in May 2023.
The next day, Ronald was announced as the new state party chairman and subsequently, BERSATU has been expelled from GRS due to its current position as opposition party on the national level, and GRS' distant from any political ties with PN, in which BERSATU and SAPP are associated with.
In response to Hajiji's decision, Bung announced that BN Sabah has pulled their support for the Chief Minister, claiming that he had breached the party hopping prevention law. However, before Bung had made his statement, this event already had a controversy located in Kinabalu Hotel andSabah International Convention Centre (SICC) where the UMNO Sabah leader had met WARISAN's Shafie. This controversy went viral before TheBERSATU Sabah leadership mass resignation in 9 December 2022.[12]
Later that day, he met Shafie to discuss about the possibility of forming a new coalition to ensure the Senallang Assemblyman's return to the Chief Minister's Office.
Amidst the crisis, five UMNO Sabah members,Shahelmey Yahya (Putatan MP and MLA for Tanjung Keramat),Jasnih Daya (MLA for Pantai Dalit),Yusof Yacob (MLA for Sindumin),James Ratib (MLA for Sugut) andMohd Arsad Bistari (MLA for Tempasuk) declared their continued support of Hajiji until his term expired and denounced Bung's decision. As of result, in March and April, Shahelmey was suspended for six years by UMNO's Supreme Council for backing Hajiji (and would possibly face expulsion, depending on party's discipline codes), while James, Jasnih and Arshad was sacked from the party for party hopping.
On 21 February 2023, Yusof, along with other 8 MLAs, including the sacked UMNO members, supporting Hajiji, and at the same time, along with another UMNO defector, Hamid Awang (MLA for Balung), and former WARISAN MLAs, Mohammad Mohamarin (Banggi), Chong Chen Bin (Tanjong Kapor) and Norazlinah Arif (Kunak), they joined GAGASAN.[13]
On 5 January 2023, Bung Mokhtar and Shafie launched an attempt to oust Hajiji and reinstall the latter as Chief Minister.
These attempts were foiled by members of the GRS. As of result, Hajiji swaps Bung with Shahelmey for Deputy Chief Minister's post, and the Kinabatangan MP was dropped from the ruling cabinet.
On 5 February,Hajiji Noor, including other members of formerBERSATU Sabah, took over a little known party calledParti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (GAGASAN) from its previous leader, Stephen Jacob Jimbangan. On 9 December 2022, the party had already accepted him as its member prior to the first Hajiji cabinet's collapse and the party had already been accepted asGRS coalition component party. Since 27 May 2023,GRS coalition secured their seats with 42 State legislative assembly fixed seats, 2 days after"Anti-parties hopping law" been approved inSabah on 25 May 2023.
The day after the failed coup attempt, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and his Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi flew to Sabah to discuss with Hajiji about the crisis.
They advised him that he needed to either call for a fresh election or reshuffle his cabinet line-up. He decided on the latter.
In the aftermath of the crisis, Hajiji made a major decision to fire the Kinabatangan MP from his cabinet line-up and replaced Bung Mokhtar with Shahelmey as the Minister of Works.
UMNO and BN Sabah, led by Bung, on January announced that they had pullover their support against Sulaman assemblyman for his responsible quit BERSATU. Later,Social Democratic Harmony Party, led byPeter Anthony, make the same decision and back supporting him shortly afterwards.
A month later,Gagasan Rakyat, a little-known 2013 political party in Sabah, had been take over by Hajiji along with others as BERSATU Sabah's replacement, citing its ability as the broader and wider party for all Sabahans to reduce the dependents of Malaya-based parties, such as UMNO-BN and especially BERSATU-PN, meanwhile at the same time retaining their survival to ensure all rights and autonomy returned to Sabah as signed inMalaysia Agreement.
On 12 February 2023, Barisan Nasional Secretary General, Zambry Abd. Kadir said Barisan Nasional decided to support the Sabah Government led byHajiji Noor fromGRS as Sabah Chief Minister.[14]
