KOTA KINABALU – Sabah-based party, Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) has called for Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor to resign as chief minister, saying he has lost majority support in the legislative assembly.
KDM president Datuk Peter Anthony, who is also the Melalap assemblyman, said Hajiji no longer fulfils articles in the Sabah constitution requiring the chief minister to be the leader of a political party that has the support of the majority of assemblymen.
“With this, Hajiji, who is the Sulaman assemblyman, must resign as chief minister immediately.
“KDM is leaving it to the wisdom of the Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin to decide on the appointment of a new Sabah chief minister according to the constitution,” said Anthony in a statement following Sabah Barisan Nasional’s (BN) announcement last night on its exit from the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS)-led government.
GRS and BN formed an alliance to govern Sabah after the state election in 2020.
State BN chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin last night said their exit from the GRS-BN pact was because Hajiji had violated agreements and is also not qualified to be the chief minister as he is without a party.
Hajiji and other lawmakers had quit Bersatu, a component of GRS on December 10 last year and declared themselves “direct members” of the coalition.
KDM has three assemblymen in the 79-seat Sabah assembly.
Besides Anthony, the other two state lawmakers are party deputy president Datuk Juil Nuatim (Limbahau) and Bandau assemblyman Datuk Wetrom Bahanda.
KDM had initially applied to be a member of the GRS coalition but with the latest political development, they remain a party on their own but supportive of BN.
With 79 seats in the state assembly, the simple majority is 40.
Of BN’s 18 assemblymen, Bung Moktar has said that five of them do not agree with pulling out from the GRS-led government, leaving BN with 13. Warisan has 19 assemblymen and KDM, which is also against Hajiji, has 3 seats. Along with an independent, Bung Moktar’s faction would have 36 seats.
This would tie with GRS, which sources told The Vibes would also have 36 seats comprising its 29 assemblymen, the five from Umno and lawmakers from smaller parties.
This makes Pakatan Harapan’s seven lawmakers the possible kingmakers, but the seven of them have issued statements to state their continued support for Hajiji so as to prioritise political stability. – The Vibes, January 7, 2023
