Rotation discontinued after landslide BN election victory
Saturday, 01 January 2005 (Source: Daily Express)

KOTA KINABALU: Sabahans ushered in the year 2004 with peace of mind, unlike previously when talks of who would be the new Chief Minister was part of hot conversation topics at countdown gatherings.

After 10 years and seven Chief Ministers from the three main ethnic groups in Sabah, namely the Muslim Bumiputera, non-Muslim Bumiputera and Chinese, the unique Chief Minister rotation system was finally abolished.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) Chairman, fresh from leading the BN to the landslide victory in the March 21 general election, announced the scrapping just as the new Sabah Cabinet members were being sworn in at the Istana Negeri on March 27.

With the abolishment of the system, Datuk Seri Musa Aman, who took over from Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat and whose term was supposed to end in March 2005, became Sabah's 14th Chief Minister for the next five years.

Musa had led the Sabah BN to a resounding win in the State election by sweeping all the 60 seats, except for the Kuala Penyu seat which was won by an Independent candidate.

The rotation system, which began in 1994, was mooted by former Prime Minister Tun (Datuk Seri then) Dr Mahathir Mohamad as an election pledge in Beaufort when leading the BN's campaign.

Apart from Musa, the other Sabah BN leaders who became Chief Minister under the system were Tun Sakaran Dandai, Datuk Salleh Tun Said, Datuk Yong Teck Lee, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, Datuk Osu Sukam and Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat.

However, the system had been criticised by many who argued that it stunted development since the time given was insufficient and even Dr Mahathir himself had admitted that the system had the tendency to create lame duck Chief Ministers.

As for Musa, he believed that the scrapping of the rotation system would enable the State Government to fully concentrate on the development of the State and people.

Despite being what many had been calling for, some, in particular the non-Muslim Bumiputera, were in a way disappointed since only one leader from their quota became the Chief Minister, and not even up to one year.

The new State Cabinet announced by Musa gave some surprises to the people as well, as he dropped two senior Ministers Datuk Lajim Ukin and Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, whom he said had requested to be left out to give others a chance to serve.

Newcomer Datuk Masidi Manjun replaced Kurup, who is the President of Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), as the Youth and Sports Minister, while Lajim, who was Deputy Chief Minister under the Bumiputera Muslim quota, had his place taken over by Datuk Yahya Hussin, and his second portfolio, Minister in the Chief Minister's Department, taken over by Datuk Nasir Tun Sakaran.

Nonetheless, Kurup was appointed as the new Sabah Land Development Corporation (SLDC) Chairman, while Lajim was made the State's Inspector-General of Project.

Musa added a dash of experience into the Cabinet by including two former Chief Ministers, Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat, as his deputy for the non-Muslim Bumiputera and Chinese quota, respectively.

Pairin, who is Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) President, replaced Upko Secretary-General Datuk Wences Angang who was not considered after losing his Kuala Penyu State seat.

The appointment of PBS' leaders into the Government marked the return of PBS into the political mainstream following its readmission into the coalition's fold in 2002.

Pairin's deputy Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili was appointed as a Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

Many attributed to the BN's landslide victory in the March election in Sabah to PBS' remarkable performance and, in acknowledging this, the leadership set aside another full Minister post to the party.

Another PBS Deputy President, Dr Yee Moh Chai, who received his Datukship in conjunction with the Head of State's official birthday this year, was appointed as the Resources and Information Technology Minister, previously held by Wences.

Wences lost his Kuala Penyu seat, which he had been holding for 18 years, to former Sabah Umno Deputy Information Chief, Datuk John Ghani, who ditched the party to contest as an Independent, citing a change was needed in the constituency.

Chong, who kept his Tourism Ministry portfolio, replaced Datuk Tham Nyip Shen, the SAPP Deputy President, who had to be dropped after not having any seat to contest in the election.

Taking over the Upko quota in the Cabinet was Datuk Ewon Ebin, who made a comeback and was made the Industrial Development Minister.

Musa also appointed three women YBs as among the 14 Assistant Ministers, namely Jainab Ahmad from Umno, Jornah Mozihim from PBS and Melanie Chia from SAPP. Eleven of the Assistant Ministers were new faces.

Musa, in maintaining the 6:3:2 Cabinet composition, expressed confidence that they are committed to the progress of the State and people by realising the State administration's halatuju and BN manifesto.

The dissolution of the State Legislative Assembly on March 3 also coincided with the dissolution of Parliament, marking the first time in history that Sabahans go to the State and Parliamentary polls simultaneously.

In the run-up to the elections, there were many speculations and negotiations among the State BN component parties that saw some swapping constituencies allocated to them.

Musa, as the State BN chairman, finally announced the candidates list at the State BN headquarters in Putatan Square on March 11, about 10 days before the polling day.

As expected, most of the seats went to Umno with 32 State and 13 Parliamentary seats, while PBS got the second most with 13 State and four Parliamentary seats, followed by Upko (six State and four Parliamentary), SAPP (four State and two Parliamentary), LDP (three State and one

Parliamentary), PBRS (one State and one Parliamentary) and MCA (one State).

Apart from Upko, losing one of the State seats, another casualty was LDP after its incumbent Sandakan MP Datuk Lau Ngan Siew lost to Independent, Chong Hon Min, thus preventing the BN from making a clean sweep of the 25 parliamentary seats.

The results of the elections again demonstrated the oppositions' failure of achieving "harmony" among them to face the mighty BN machinery.

A hastily put out Independent Front led by Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan did not give sufficient bite to the oppositions since they could not reach an understanding to go for a straight fight against the BN in all the constituencies.

Apart from Independents, opposition candidates who also contested against BN were from DAP, Keadilan and PAS.

The elections also saw the presence of many Independent candidates, mostly dissidents from BN component parties, most of whom objected to the leadership's choice of candidates.

Among them were PBS Vice President Yunof Maringking and Datuk John Ghani.

The leadership promptly announced that the BN would not readmit the renegades into the coalition fold and those who were found going against the BN in the elections were also handed disciplinary actions and some sacked. After the dust had settled, eyes were also on the merger of two BN KDM-based parties, Upko and PBRS.

Delegates at both parties' congress had given the mandate to their respective leaders to go ahead with the discussion for the merger to materialise.

However, speculations were rife, especially after the Upko Tamparuli division Youth annual general meeting that the merger was delayed due to some difficulties in the distribution of posts among leaders from the two parties after they have merged.

The new name for the merged parties was put out as Upko Bersatu, which PBRS President Tan Sri Joseph Kurup had admitted to be true, but that there were also other names.

Expressing confidence that the merger would materialise sooner or later, Kurup said PBRS also wanted the new party to remain as a KDM-based party but multi-racial in character.