[UPDATED] Sabah cabinet agrees to limit chief minister’s tenure to two terms

KOTA KINABALU – The Sabah assembly was today informed about measures towards introducing a proposed policy to limit the chief minister’s tenure to only two electoral terms.

Assistant minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datuk Abidin Madingkir said the state can amend the Sabah constitution in the next sitting if the assemblymen in the House back the move.

“In principle, the Sabah cabinet has agreed to this proposal and if all the assemblymen support this, we will bring the matter up in the next assembly sitting.

“This suggestion is indeed good as such a proposal was also made at the federal level, which was to limit the term of the prime minister,” said Madingkir during the question-and-answer session this morning.

Madingkir was responding to a question posed by Datuk Ewon Benedick (Kadamaian-Upko) on whether the state would pass an amendment to the state constitution to limit the term of the chief minister.

In November 2018, Penang became the first state in Malaysia to table and pass a motion setting a two-term limit for the chief ministership.

Criteria for Sandakan city status still under review

Meanwhile, state Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said a law will be amended to facilitate the state’s upgrading of the status of a town or district to a city.

He said the amendment would involve decentralisation of power as the relevant procedures for this matter now come under the ambit of the federal government.

“This is one of the challenges the state is facing. We need the federal government to agree for us to upgrade the city status,” he said during the question-and-answer session.

He was responding to a supplementary question posed by Datuk Frankie Poon (Tg Papat-DAP) linked to the upgrading of Sandakan – which now has the Sandakan Municipal Council as its local government – to a city.

Masidi added that the state government is still in the process of evaluating whether the east coast district meets all the requirements for city status.

“After the amendment, it will be much easier for us to declare whether a district qualifies for a city status or not,” he said.

Sandakan was supposed to be declared a city in February, with Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin tasked to oversee this effort. – The Vibes, March 22, 2022