KOTA KINABALU: Gabungan Rakyat Sabah's newest coalition partner, United Sabah National Organisation (Usno), has pledged to work with the ruling state coalition.

       Usno president Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia gave this assurance to his GRS partners as he thanked the leaders for accepting Usno as the fifth partner in the state's coalition.

       "I for one will not give any problem to the (GRS) leaders who are already shouldering issues.

       "We will not make any unnecessary demands, our party is small in size, they should not worry about it," said the veteran Sabah politician when contacted on Tuesday (May 10).

       He thanked Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili, Sabah STAR president Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and Sabah Progressive Party president Datuk Yong Teck Lee for supporting and having confidence in Usno.

       "I thanked them for their understanding," said Pandikar, who explained that his party applied to join GRS in January 2021 after the Sabah state elections in 2020.

       He said he was fully aware of working together as a party in a coalition and had experienced it in Barisan Nasional when he was president of the now defunct Parti Akar.

       The former Dewan Rakyat speaker said that he was fully in line with the GRS vision of strengthening local based party politics as practised by neighbouring Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).

       He said it was time for the big "political brothers" (Umno and Bersatu) in Peninsular Malaysia to allow Sabah leaders to "paint their own political directions" without interference as Sabah has its own unique ways.

       "The government of the day at the Federal-level Umno and Bersatu must understand Sabah politics, they must give us their support and they must not interfere," he said, adding that Usno would continue its agenda for Sabah through GRS.

       When Malaysia was formed in 1963, the original Usno was the main political party representing native Muslim bumiputras led by the late Tun Mustapha Harun.

       In 1991, Mustapha dissolved Usno, to pave the way for Umno's entry to Sabah.

       The party was re-registered as Usno Baru in 2013 but remained a shell outfit till Pandikar took over the party before the September 2020 state polls.