Opposition reps oppose Lajim's appointment
Published on: Tuesday, April 18, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: At least six opposition assemblymen have rejected Parti Harapan Sabah President Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin's continued appointment as the State Legislative Assembly Opposition Leader, arguing that the job should instead go to PKR Sabah Chairwoman and Api-Api Assemblywoman Christina Liew.The six are Sulabayan Assemblyman Datuk Jaujan Sambakong, Moyog Assemblyman Terrence Siambun, Likas Assemblyman Junz Wong, Inanam Assemblyman Roland Chia, Sri Tanjong Assemblyman Chan Foong Hin and Christina herself.During a press conference held here on Monday, Jaujan said they were unhappy because Lajim does not represent the majority which would be DAP, PKR and Parti Warisan Sabah.
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"He is a one person party. For me, this is undemocratic. And furthermore, during the sitting, he did not act like an opposition. He was leaning more towards Barisan Nasional. Our group is very dissatisfied by his appointment made by the Speaker."We do not recognise this decision. We were told to vote and choose who should represent us. We never voted for him.
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So when the announcement was made, we were surprised. We were not even given the time to speak."Immediately after the announcement, the Speaker went to the next agenda, the Question and Answer session.
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We were not given the space and time to speak," he said.Jaujan said when the appointment was made, disregarding the outcome of the votes which the Speaker's office had actually asked all opposition representatives to cast, they did not know each other's votes.However, he said, they were certain many of them did not vote for Lajim and were surprised that Lajim was maintained as their leader."At least six of us did not vote for him. And as far as we know, Kapayan Assemblyman Dr Edwin Bosi also did not vote for him. So that's seven of us," he said.There are only 10 opposition representatives in the State Legislative Assembly with the other three being Lajim himself, Tamparuli Assemblyman and Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS) President Datuk Seri Wilfred Bumburing and Bingkor Assemblyman and Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) President Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.Jaujan considered the decision to be very weird and wondered the logic behind the Speaker's asking opposition representatives to vote but ended up making the decision himself.He implied that while the appointment, which was done on the first day of the sitting, did not raise too many red flags in the beginning, it began to make sense after seeing how Lajim behaved in the House."I don't want to elaborate on that. But as far as we know now, Liew is our leader and we adamantly refuse to recognise Lajim's appointment. We have the right to recognise her as our leader. We have six out of 10 votes now," he said.Liew said Lajim's action during the whole four-day sitting was unbecoming of an opposition leader, especially when he decided to take the side of the BN."When we in the opposition were called names, he did not stand for us at all," she said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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