KOTA KINABALU – Creating a balanced state cabinet without offending Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) partners is the immediate challenge facing Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor.
After Hajiji was sworn in this morning, cracks appeared between his party, Bersatu, and GRS ally Umno.
The tension was over the public works portfolio, which was supposed to go to Umno, but was given to state Bersatu No. 2 Datuk Masidi Manjun instead.
The issue was resolved when Masidi switched portfolios with Umno’s Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, who was earlier named state local government and housing minister.
Masidi has also been made state finance minister.
“I need Masidi’s assistance to rehabilitate Sabah’s economy and tackle the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Hajiji this afternoon, adding that the swap was “agreed by all”.
He said the appointment of another five ministers, as well as that of assistant ministers, will be made soon.
On the lack of Chinese representation in his cabinet so far, he said the matter will be looked into.
Denying that Umno is unhappy with the cabinet line-up, he said: “That is not true. Umno (Bung Moktar) is here.”
Sources told The Vibes that Bung Moktar, who is one of Hajiji’s three deputies, had stormed out minutes after the swearing-in ceremony, believed to be due to unhappiness over the portfolio assignment, which was seen as going against earlier negotiations on cabinet posts.
It is learnt that the state Umno agreed to give Bersatu the chief minister’s post in return for the Barisan Nasional lynchpin getting a bigger share of the state cabinet.
Following the portfolio switch, Masidi tweeted: “Please don’t ask me the reasons. I will tell all after I retire.”
It remains to be seen whether Hajiji will do away with the education and innovation, law and native affairs, and health and well-being portfolios, which were created by the previous Parti Warisan Sabah-led administration.
Besides Bung Moktar, Sabah Star’s Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan and Datuk Joachim Gunsalam of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) have been appointed deputy chief ministers.
Sabah UiTM political analyst Raheezal Shah Abdul Karim raised the question of female representation in the state cabinet.
“There are only two women reps in GRS – PBS’ Julita Mojingki (Matunggong) and Sabah Star’s Flovia Ng (Tulid).
“In the Warisan-led government, women were made assistant ministers. Jannie and Jenifer Lasimbang were assistant law and native affairs minister and assistant education and innovation minister, respectively.”
It is rumoured that Julita will be made a state minister, he said. – The Vibes, September 29, 2020
Additional reporting by Jason Santos
