PETALING JAYA: Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor’s handling of the political turmoil in the state has shown he is more generous and inclusive than Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, says an analyst.
Lee Kuok Tiung of Universiti Malaysia Sabah said it is only natural that Hajiji’s Cabinet comprises representatives of parties that support him as the chief minister.
Earlier today, Hajiji announced his new line-up, dropping Umno leaders who opposed him, including Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin, Jafry Ariffin and Yakub Khan.
He also appointed PKR’s Christina Liew and DAP’s Phoong Jin Zhe as ministers, and promoted Umno’s Shahelmy Yahya to replace Bung, the former deputy chief minister and state works minister.
Bung has said Hajiji’s new Cabinet is not the unity government that Anwar Ibrahim had mooted in Sabah, but Lee argues that it reflects the political reality in the state.
“Similar to Anwar’s (federal) Cabinet, it comprises those who support his unity government. Those who do not support Anwar’s leadership are not in his Cabinet,” Lee told FMT.
He said Hajiji has shown magnanimity by keeping a deputy chief minister’s post for an Umno assemblyman.
“Anwar’s unity government only gave deputy minister positions to Sabah Umno even though it contributed to six of Barisan Nasional’s 30 parliamentary seats nationwide. That’s 20% of BN’s seats.
“Not even one full ministerial post was given to anyone from Sabah Umno in the federal Cabinet,” he said.
Lee also said those opposed to Hajiji’s leadership, be it from Umno, Warisan or Peter Anthony’s Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Malaysia, have no right to complain about being excluded from the new Cabinet.
Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs said Bung’s exclusion from Hajiji’s line-up will weaken the Umno leader as he has no position in government.
“Bung, those aligned to him, and Warisan are the biggest losers in this saga,” he said, adding that he did not believe this was a true unity government in the sense of the word.
Oh said he believes the new line-up will resolve the crisis in Sabah and quell the instability in the state for the time being.
