Sabah chief ministerial candidate requires personality accepted by the people and political elite - Dr Hamidin

KUALA LUMPUR : While the riddle of who the new Sabah Chief Minister is remains unanswered, the leader who will be appointed to lead the state government must be liked by all walks of life, including the political elite.

According to lecturer of the History Department, University of Malaya who is also a Research Fellow of ILHAM Centre, Associate Professor Dr Hamidin Abd Hamid, the chief ministerial candidate must also have a firm personality and be able to face any demands from the community.

"One thing that should be seen to play an important role in the context of leadership in Sabah is a chief minister who can be seen as a strong character and able to face the demands and diversity that exists in Sabah politics at this time.

"For example, what if we see the question of a 'swing' among Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) voters. One of the issues very close to voters among KDM seats is the issue of illegal immigrants (PATI). This is not an easy question to deal with, so how a chief minister is firm, is very important at this time.

"At the same time, his presence is accepted by all parties and has political interests in Sabah. So, I think the main personality should be someone who can listen, accept and be accepted by the community, especially among the Sabah political elite at this time," he explained in an interview with Buletin Awani Khas on Sunday.

Commenting on the current situation, Dr Hamidin explained the cooperation between the parties in the Gerakan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) was very necessary in ensuring political stability, especially after the Sabah State Election (PRN) on Saturday.

He said the determining of political quality will be seen when the political maturity is translated by every leader in the coalition.

"Here the strength in the context of political maturity will be extended to the elite political leaders in Sabah in maintaining the quality of politics.

"The cooperation needs to be strengthened so that the stability remains despite having a six seat advantage but if it is successfully strengthened with good cooperation, I think they can survive for the next five years," he added.

On Saturday, GRS obtained a simple majority to take over the reins of state government from Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) in the 16th Sabah PRN.

GRS obtained 38 seats, an advantage of one seat out of the simple majority of 37 seats in the State Legislative Assembly which now has 73 seats.