Hajiji’s Brilliant Political Move

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor has done it again: he made masterly moves in a political chess game and eventually checkmated his foe. Hajiji made the right move to avert a potential crisis and in so doing, he has ensured political stability. Hajiji welcomed Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan, UPKO and five independent election winners into his administration to pre-empt Parti Warisan Sabah’s possible move to form a coalition. The brilliant manoeuvring averted a repeat of the political power squabble in 2018 when the then CM Tun Musa Aman’s Barisan National 29-seat majority position in the State Assembly was threatened by the crossover of elected representatives from Upko to Warisan.

The TYT (Head of State) in 2018 was Tun Juhar who was seen as not favouring Musa to become the CM. In 2025, Musa is the TYT. Hajiji survived a “coup-de tat” in 2023 spearheaded by one of his colleagues in the coalition, UMNO’s Bung Moktar, in cahoots with Parti Warisan Sabah which threatened GRS’ majority in the Assembly. The failed political move was named “Langkah Kinabalu.”

In November 2025, after GRS secured 29 seats in the election, and elected representatives from Upko, PH and Independents pledged support to GRS, Hajiji became the rightful person to hold the trophy, and he was sworn in as Chief Minister for a second 5-year term. He was widely praised for averting another political crisis. During his CM tenure over the last five years, Hajiji’s leadership brought remarkable transformation in the social, political and economic landscape. Hajiji asked the people for another mandate to continue the journey and the people responded positively.

So, Hajiji and team is back again to lead. One of Hajiji’s leadership qualities is that he has always maintained consistentcy: prudent fiscal policies; genuine care for the people; and promoting harmony. Hajiji and GRS’ track record speak for itself: tremendous economic growth, which saw the State’s reserves increased from RM 3.59 billion in 2020 to RM4.2 billion in 2021, to an unprecedented RM 8.6 billion in 2024, and then RM 7.5 billion in 2023.

Hajiji brought foreign direct investment (FDI) into the O&G sector, and the subsequent economic windfalls from the sector (O&G) accounted for half of the state government’s revenue of RM6.7 billion in the form of cash payment and SST. Under Hajiji’s leadership, the state is on track to continue the upward trend: revenue to reach RM 10 billion by 2025 — pale in comparison to the RM3.59 billion recorded in 2020 under the Party Warisan Sabah administration. It has been clearly proven that, after a few years of guiding Sabah, Hajiji’s resilience and vision of good governance, has transformed Sabah.