Use of SDs as proof of majority should be discouraged, says GRS' Masidi

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah's Constitution should be used as the guide to appoint the Chief Minister and the practice of using statutory declarations for support should be discouraged, says Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.

The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) secretary-general said that the Constitution itself was designed to promote certainty and political stability in the state.

"It is fundamental to Sabah’s constitutional order that the Tuan Yang Terutama is not dragged into political schemes, disputes or power struggles.

"I hope that certain political leaders observe this and show the TYT and his office the respect it deserves.

"Therefore, the recent practice of bringing signed statutory declarations to the Istana as evidence is undesirable and should be discouraged," he said.

Masidi said this in a statement immediately after the GRS government led by Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor collapsed with Sabah Barisan Nasional led by Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin pulling out its support on Friday (Jan 6).

He disputed Bung's claims that Hajiji’s position as Chief Minister was no longer legitimate when he led Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) assemblymen to become GRS direct members on Dec 8.

Masidi said that the GRS constitution provided for direct membership and not just for parties.

He said that Hajiji is the chairman for GRS and is the leader of the single largest party and there was no basis to say that Hajiji had no locus standi to remain Chief Minister even after they left Bersatu to be direct members of GRS.

"GRS has more than enough assemblymen and is the largest political party in the Sabah assembly. Therefore, there is no merit to Bung's allegation that Hajiji has no locus standi (right of standing) to be Sabah’s Chief Minister," Masidi said.

Bung had claimed that Hajiji no longer qualified to be Sabah’s legitimate Chief Minister under Article 6(7) of the Constitution.

"Bung is trying to cast doubts and confusion on the legitimacy of Hajiji's position under Article 6 (7)," he said.

Article 6(7) of the Constitution reads: “For the purpose of Clause (3) of this Article, where a political party has won a majority of the elected seats of the Legislative Assembly in a general election, the leader of such political party, who is a member of the Legislative Assembly, shall be the member of the Legislative Assembly who is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Assembly."

Under Article 6(3), he said that the TYT will choose a member of the assembly whom he thinks shall command the confidence of a majority of the members of the assembly.

Article 6(3) states that "where a political party wins a majority of the seats in the assembly (the ‘DUN’) the leader of that party is presumed to command the majority.

He said that definition of ‘majority’ was made clear by the High Court in Tan Sri Musa Aman v Tun Juhar & Anor case when Justice Datuk Yew Jen Kie stated that “majority” does not mean ‘the most seats’ but greater than 50% of the seats in the assembly.

Justice Yew went on to say that Article 6(7) will not apply unless a political party manages to win more than 50% of the DUN seats following a state election which was not the case in 2018 (GE14).