Sabah, S’wak Chinese MPs for cabinet?

Indications are strong that Sarawak's sole Chinese MP and two others from Sabah will be included in Prime Minister Najib's new cabinet

KOTA KINABALU: Chinese leaders from Sabah look set to nuetralise the shades in Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak impending federal cabinet, which has suffered from MCA and Gerakan’s dismal performance in the May general election.

While MCA retained only seven parliamentary seats of the 37 contested, Gerakan had only one – Simpang Rengam in Johor – to speak about.

Both parties have since declined to accept ministerial positions in the Cabinet in keeping with the Chinese community’s rejection of their representation.

But Najib is adamant about maintaining Barisan Nasional’s multiracial concept in the federal cabinet, which he is expected to announce tomorrow. New ministers are expected to be sworn in before the Yang DiPertuan Aging on Thursday.

With MCA and Gerakan out of the picture, it means more slots for BN component parties in Sabah and Sarawak.

Indications are strong that both Parti Bersatu Sabah’s (PBS) Chinese women MPs will make it to Najib’s cabinet along with Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party’s (SPDP)  Bintulu MP Tiong King Seng.

Music teacher Linda Tsen (Batu Sapi) retained her hold on Batu Sapi with a 6,359 vote majority while newcomer, former school principal and educationist, Mary Yap (Tawau) wrested the seat from the opposition with a majority of 4,979 votes.

Tsen retained the Batu Sapi seat which she won in by-election in 2010 following her husband, then incumbent Edmund Chong’s death in an accident.

Tiong, on the other hand, is a veteran and former chairman of the BN backbenchers’ Club.

The trio are likely to be ‘looking after” the community’s interests in the interim until MCA decides its ready to take on its allocated Ministerial posts.

The GE13 saw a total of seven cabinet ministers lose their seats. Two of them were from Sabah. They are VK Liew in Sandakan and Bernard Dompok in Penampang.

Liew’s party LDP also failed to win back Kota Kinabalu, a predominantly Chinese seat, which it lost in 2008.

Although Liew has reportedly claimed that Sabah Chinese had not deserted BN,  political observers have pointed out otherwise.

They said the only reason the two other ‘Chinese’ state seats under Sandakan – Tanjong Papat and Elopura – were retained by BN through Gerakan’s Raymond Tan and Au Kam Wah was because of the “new” voters.

Sandakan parliamentary constituency is within the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM)area.

The Tanjong Papat state constituency encompasses Pulau Berhala which houses a large concentration of refugees and immigrants from the southern Philippines.

It was the same for Au in Elopura who scrapped past with a majority of 251 votes.
Azizah for cabinet?

Meanwhile the other names from Sabah tipped to join the new federal cabinet is Azizah Dun (Beaufort), Sapawi Ahmad (Sipitang) and Madius Tangau.

Azizah fought an uphill battle for BN to retain the seat it won in 2008 through Lajim Ukin. Lajim had defended his seat in the May 5 polls on a PKR ticket.

Lajim lost the seat by 673 votes. He has since filed a complaint with Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission over ‘vote-buying’ by BN.

Sapawi meanwhile seems set for a post after reaping a higher majority in the May 5 general elections.

Old hats from Sabah who are set to be retained are former ministers Anifah Aman, Shafie Apdal, Maximus Ongkili and deputy ministers Joseph Kurup, Rahim Bakri and Rosnah Shirlin.

Fmt