KOTA KINABALU – Sabah opposition party Warisan will seek the formation of a select committee in the state assembly on the chief minister’s appointment after its assemblymen yesterday failed to vote down a provision in the anti-party hopping bill.
Party president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said he will pursue the formation of a special legislative committee to look into the effect of deleting Article 6(7) from the Sabah constitution.
“They (the state) have promised to look into this. We will follow up on the creation of a select committee like in Parliament.
“Refining this is very important as it will guide the selection of the chief minister,” Shafie told reporters at a press conference here today.
The deletion of Article 6(7) leaves Sabah with only one criterion for the selection of the chief minister – Article 6(3) – which allows the Sabah governor to choose a chief minister based on who he assumes to have the command of the majority of assemblymen.
The removal of Article 6(7) was included as a provision in the constitutional amendment bill to prevent party hopping.
While the assembly yesterday voted unanimously on all the provisions pertaining to party hopping, Warisan had called for a division vote on removing Article 6(7).
The provision to remove this article was passed by 61 votes to Warisan’s 14, while four assemblymen were absent.
Shafie said today that clarity on how the governor appoints the chief minister is necessary, to avoid a repeat of past instances where assemblymen rushed to the governor with statutory declarations on who they supported.
“There is no need for statutory declarations (SDs), which created political instability in the past.
“We don’t want a party that did not contest in the election still be able to form the government (with only SDs). That will be undemocratic. The deletion of the clause will now see the power to appoint the chief ministers rest solely on the governor,” Shafie said.
Meanwhile, he said the Warisan supreme council had unanimously agreed with other provisions passed yesterday, namely to prevent party hopping.
He expressed his hope that the state will soon gazette the constitutional amendments to prevent party hopping, so that it can be enforced.
Warisan has lost several assemblymen to political instability and party hopping, and now has 14 seats from the 23 it won in the 2020 state election. – The Vibes, May 26, 2023
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