Stick to the law to determine position of Sabah CM - Shafie Apdal

KOTA KINABALU: All quarters should abide by the law, especially the state constitution, to determine the position of the Chief Minister and state government in the wake of the latest political developments in Sabah, said Parti Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.

He said Warisan would not pressure Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor to resign as the Chief Minister but the Sulaman state assemblyman himself should understand his current position based on the Sabah state constitution.

Mohd Shafie said for the sake of political stability, parties should not be playing on claims of having majority support in the State Legislative Assembly but should refer to the relevant laws and act accordingly.

"(Hajiji) needs to do the honourable thing; no one knows whether he has majority support or not," he told a press conference at the Warisan headquarters in Kolombong here today.

Yesterday, Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin told a press conference that Sabah BN was withdrawing its support from Hajiji as it had lost confidence in him and that Hajiji had violated an agreement between BN and Perikatan Nasional (PN).

Bung Moktar, who is also Sabah UMNO chief, said BN and PN had entered into the agreement to form the Sabah state goverment after the state election in 2020 but Hajiji and other leaders of Sabah Bersatu, a component party of PN, had since left the party, causing the current state government to lose its legitimacy.

The Sabah state assembly has 79 assemblymen, 73 of whom were elected and six appointed.

"He (Hajiji) is not heading a party because GRS is a coalition of parties. The agreement to establish the Sabah government (after the Sabah state polls) was also made between BN and PN, but Hajiji had left Bersatu," Mohd Shafie said.

Mohd Shafie said Warisan was leaving it to Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin to determine the position of Hajiji as the Chief Minister and the Sabah government.

Asked if Warisan would cooperate with any party to form the state government, Mohd Shafie said the priority now was to determine the position of the Chief Minister and state government according to the law.

Asked further if Warisan had secured the majority support of state assemblymen, he said: "Stick to the law first, not the numbers."

"I sympathise with Sabah people for having to face this kind of political uncertainty, so what is needed now is to determine a firm position (Chief Minister and state government) based on the provisions of existing laws," he added.

-- BERNAMA