KOTA KINABALU – The appointments of two Umno leaders to the Sabah cabinet are not recognised and endorsed by the party, claimed state Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin.
Bung Moktar, who is also Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said the appointments do not represent Umno in the state government, which had a cabinet reshuffle earlier today.
“We do not want to give any recognition to the appointments.
“The chief minister, Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, also does not have the right to say that there are Umno or BN leaders in his cabinet,” he said in response to the new Sabah cabinet line-up.
Hajiji had appointed Tg Keramat assemblyman Datuk Shahelmey Yahya from Umno as deputy chief minister III and state public works minister.
Party colleague Datuk James Ratib, the Sugut assemblyman, was meanwhile appointed as community development and people’s wellbeing minister.
Shahelmey replaces Bung Moktar as deputy chief minister and works minister after the latter’s failed bid to oust Hajiji from the chief minister’s post.
Shahelmey and Ratib were among five Umno dissidents who disagreed with Sabah BN’s decision to end its cooperation with Hajiji’s Gabungan Rakyat Sarawak (GRS) in the state government.
Bung Moktar said he would bring this matter of Shahelmey and James’ appointments to the Umno and BN disciplinary board.
He described the cabinet reshuffle as a failure to heed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s advice to Hajiji to form a unity government.
In Sabah, Bung Moktar, as head of Sabah BN, is now in the opposition, even though Shahelmey and James are in the state government.
At the federal level, both BN and GRS are in Anwar’s unity government. – The Vibes, January 11, 2023
