It’s all Hajiji’s own doing, says Shafie on political crisis in Sabah

Photo: Bernama

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor brought his own downfall on himself when he quit Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), said Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (pic).

The Parti Warisan president said this started when Hajiji publicly announced that he and his assemblymen were leaving Bersatu en masse to form a new party and become direct members of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition.

Datuk Hajiji is not a party president and in fact, he is not a member of any party, he said.

“Whose fault is this? It was Hajiji's fault when he quit. Not Warisan,” he said during a press conference here on Saturday (Jan 7).

Shafie said this period of political chaos is the outcome of Hajiji’s own doing when he wanted to keep his post after the 15th General Election (GE15) where Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional were no longer in the Federal Government.

He said the Chief Minister is "on his own" and with no certainty of the support of the majority of the other elected members of the state assembly.

He said following Article 6 (7) of the Federal Constitution, Hajiji should resign and he does not need anyone to actually tell him this.

“Article 6 (3) read with Article 6 (7) of the Sabah State Constitution requires the Chief Minister to be the leader of the party that won a majority of the elected seats in the 2020 State General Election,” Shafie said.

He also said that nobody knows whether Hajiji will now command the confidence of the majority of the elected members of the state legislature and the majority of these members have the right to choose another elected member to be the Chief Minister by presenting their choice to the Tuan Yang Terutama (TYT) Negeri Sabah at any time.

He said as per the constitution, the TYT may act in his discretion the performance of the following functions - appointment of the CM and another, withholding the consent to a request to the dissolution of the state legislative assembly.

On questions whether Warisan and Barisan held any meetings or discussions to work together to form a new government, Shafie said “we’ll see how it is”, adding that what mattered most was for the law to be abided by first.

He said Warisan was ready to work with anyone to stabilise the government and that the law should be applied in this case, just like it should have been in the 2020 state election.

He said that time, based on the results of the election where Warisan won the most seats with 23 seats plus DAP’s six, PKR two seats and Upko one.

However, it was not the case because Perikatan and Barisan worked together to form the state government.

Shafie said now, it was up to the TYT to make a decision and settle this turmoil once and for all.

He said it should be an easy task if the provisions of the law were followed through.

He said the Chief Minister candidate does not necessarily have to come from Warisan, as the ultimate decider should be the TYT.

Asked if he was ready to become the Chief Minister again if there was a need, he brushed it off and said it was not right to confuse the people further by speculating, as it was vital that the constitution and laws were adhered to.