KOTA KINABALU, April 18 -- Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) hope the formalisation of their alliance will give two of the state's biggest native parties more leverage to negotiate for seats in coming elections.

The parties' leaders said the pact, a step towards a more united Kadazan Dusun Murut and Rungus (colloquially abbreviated to KDMR) native community, will help their aim to win more than their current 13 seats for the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government.

However, the formula for the seat sharing has yet to be discussed at length by the joint committee tasked with studying the seats and identifying the best party for the job.

"It is still too early to talk about that. Being in GRS, we have to kn...