Restrict CM post to two terms: UBF
Published on: Thursday, September 08, 2011
Kota Kinabalu: United Borneo Front (UBF) on Wednesday called on the Federal Government to create a national policy that all Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers vacate their positions and make way for new faces after a maximum of two terms. Its Chairman, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, said they should emulate the examples of developed nations."We should not follow the footsteps of nations who have a history of long serving leaders with a reputation for tyranny and dictatorship.
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"This nation should continually evolve with a proper succession of leaders so that new ideas for growth and development can be implemented and generations can enhance old policies with new ones. "If the PM and CM roles are allowed to refresh after every two terms, entire generations will not be bypassed in the decision making process. "This is the basis of good governance and is the first step towards the elimination of possessive greed and dominance and cronyism," he said.He said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman should set a good example by vacating his position before the next election as he has served two terms.
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To this, he applauded the views of Upko leadership in making way for new leaders to rise within the ranks."With so many political party components in Sabah alone, Umno should not assume that they have a right to monopolise the Chief Minister's position.
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"There is no rule in place that says that the next general election should automatically set an Umno leader for the State Cabinet leadership. "In fact, local-based political parties should represent their State and be given priority over Federal based parties," he said. Dr Jeffrey said the State Government has autonomy in accordance with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and as such should decide policies for the benefit of the State first and foremost. He said that if the State Cabinet leaders are mere proxies of the Federal political parties, they would naturally prioritise Federal needs.On other issues, he suggested that if extra parliamentary and state seats were allocated to Sabah, these should be divided equitably between local based parties. "If we wish to increase Sabah and Sarawak's voice to cover 35 per cent in Parliament, that 35 per cent should be MPs from local based parties and not Federal based parties. "They are more likely to prioritise Borneo's position in this country," he said. Good governance, Dr Jeffrey said, also means that elected candidates have the integrity to resign from their ministerial positions if they hopped parties after the people has elected them. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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