KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Progressive Party has vowed to reject a Malaya “reverse takeover” of Sabah, should the Barisan Nasional lose Putrajaya to Pakatan Rakyat, and consequently, some of the Sabah BN YBs defect, to make up a majority of Sabah state seats.
“SAPP will reject such a move that replaces the Sabah BN using ‘frogs’,” said SAPP president Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee. “This is unacceptable as, it will do more harm to Sabah.”
Yong was thinking ahead a scenario that the BN would lose in the May 5 general election at federal level but would retain Sabah.
He said that in such a situation, there is every likelihood that component parties like UPKO, PBS and LDP will abandon BN. He said even UMNO YBs would jump ship then.
Yong also stressed on SAPP’s contention that it would be a waste of time and effort for the people of Sabah to vote for those political parties which are not registered in Sabah, especially if they are contesting in the State constituencies.
This is because only registered political parties can form the State government because the Sabah Constitution had been amended in 1990.
The Sabah Constitution – 1990 Amendment stipulates: “…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.” (Sabah State Constitution, Article 6 (7).
“This is unique provision is found ONLY in the Constitution of Sabah and not in the constitutions of Malaysia or other states,” pointed out the former Chief Minister of Sabah.
The standard provision that is common to the Malaysian, Sabah and other state only states that:
“The Yang Di-Petua Negeri shall appoint as Chief Minister a member of the Legislative Assembly who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of a majority of the members of the Assembly…” (Sabah Constitution, Article 6 (3).
“The two clauses above are standard clauses. But Sabah has an additional special provision that “the leader of such political party, who is a member of the Legislative Assembly” shall be deemed to have the majority confidence of the assemblymen.
“Only the Sabah Constitution contains this unique provision that: to qualify to be appointed as Chief Minister after a general election, he/she must be the leader of a political party who is also at the same time a member of the Assembly,” he explained.
“In this general election in Sabah, the PKR-PAS-DAP (Pakatan Rakyat) pact is not a registered coalition.
“Pakatan Rakyat is not a single legal entity. Not at federal level. And not at Sabah state level. PKR, PAS, DAP are contesting as separate parties using different symbols,” he said.
Yong added that Datuk Lajim Ukin of PPPS and Datuk Wilfred Bumburing of APS are also not the leaders of any political party under the Sabah constitution. PPPS and APS are merely NGOs.
“For purposes of forming government, it is very doubtful whether Lajim and Wilfred Bumburing fit the Constitutional requirement,” he contended.
Yong further pointed out that since PAS and DAP are contesting only a handful of seats, they will not get a majority required under the law.
“As for Sabah PKR and STAR both contesting more than 40 state seats, they are merely a committee in Sabah. Sabah PKR has the additional oddity that it contains two NGOs within its midst.
“It remains to be seen how Sabah PKR+PPPS+APS and STAR will overcome this hurdle. As for SAPP, it is a registered party in Sabah that complies with the Sabah constitution,” he noted.
As for the BN coalition of several parties, they all contest as a single political Party – Barisan Nasional. The BN Sabah Chief Minister has always been the Sabah BN Chairman. This situation (CM must also concurrently be the Chairman of BN Negeri Sabah) does not apply to other states.
“If BN wins a majority of seats in the Assembly, then the Sabah State Constitution states that the CM shall be the Sabah BN chairman. The TYT’s hands are tied by the 1990 amendment. Whether the BN national chairman will change the CM cum Sabah BN Chairman later, is another matter.
“If SAPP wins a majority of seats, then Constitution states that the CM shall be the SAPP leader if he wins his own state seat,” Yong explained.
He continued that if no party has an absolute majority of 31 seats? (say, BN Negeri Sabah wins 20, SAPP wins 20 and others win 20 – (say, STAR 8, PKR 10, DAP1, PAS 1), then it is called the “hung State Legislative Assembly”.
If that happens, by convention, the TYT shall then appoint the party with the highest number of seats to form a minority government.
This minority government shall have to obtain a simple majority of confidence support in the first sitting of the Legislative Assembly following the election.
Since PKR/PAS/DAP contest using different symbols, then their combined majority will not count as one single number.
“On the part of SAPP, regardless whether SAPP has an absolute majority or only a minority of State seats, SAPP offers to other opposition parties to form a Sabah coalition government with the key issues of Sabah Autonomy, Sabah ICs and Land Reforms to be implemented in Sabah.
“This coalition will stabilise Sabah politics,” he concluded.
By Victor Ma
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