KK City mayor on meritocracy, not on race

KOTA KINABALU - Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) believes that the extension of the current term of incumbent Mayor Datuk Abidin Madingkir for one year should be based on merits and not on racial grounds. All city halls face a wide variety of challenges that affect ordinary people directly. Similarly, the KK City Mayor's job is an unenviable task that requires the goodwill of the people and a strong team in City Hall. Datuk Abidin's four-year tenure has been relatively calm and we wish him all the best in carrying out his duties in the coming year.

Its president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said it is unwise for politicians to insist that the Mayor must be of a certain race because that politician could come across as being racist and have no confidence in other races. In the recent public discourse over the KK City Mayor post, our MP for Kota Kinabalu Jimmy Wong Sze Phin had stated that the Mayor must be a Chinese. This is a skewed logic that puzzles not only the non-Chinese but also many Chinese. I feel that Jimmy Wong, who spends most of his time outside KK, has misjudged the mood of the people of Kota Kinabalu.

"Jimmy assumes that just because a majority of the KK people are ethnic Chinese, therefore, he thinks he can become popular if he campaigns for the Mayor post to be given to a Chinese.

"Indeed, some time in the future, the mayor of KK City might be of Chinese origin but that too has to be on merits and on his capability and not on racial grounds. As a reminder, recent heads of the KK city were also of Chinese origin like Datuk David Lee Thau Phin (1994-1997), Mr. Stephen Shee (1997-98) and Datuk Adeline Leong (1998-99) all of whom were appointed based on merits and not on race.

"If Jimmy Wong wants to see more "Chinese Mayors", then he can start with Penang. After so many years of his party ruling the only Chinese-majority State of Penang, none of the Mayors or District Officers in Penang are of Chinese origin. This is the same situation at Selangor, ruled also by his party, which has the largest population of Chinese in Malaysia but without any "Chinese Mayor or Chinese District Officers".

"Kota Kinabalu has a good pool of qualified top civil servants, retired civil servants and professionals of various races from among which a top quality Mayor can be appointed. To me his racial background does not matter as long as he does his job well. As Deng Xiao Ping's famous saying: "It does not matter whether the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice," Yong said.