Shafie proposes panel to review Article 6(7)
Published on: Saturday, May 27, 2023
By: Agust Dean
Shafie (centre), Darell (seated, left) and some Warisan Supreme Council members at the press conference on Friday.
Kota Kinabalu: Parti Warisan (Warisan) urged the State Government to fulfil its promise to review Article 6(7) of the State Constitution which was repealed in the State Legislative Assembly session on Thursday.Its President Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal proposed the setting up of a special committee at the State level that functions like a Parliamentary Select Committee to review Article 6(7) to ensure that the process of selecting a Chief Minister is more orderly and clear.
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He said it was important for the election of a Sabah Chief Minister not to be determined through statutory declarations (SD), which is feared to cause political uncertainty.
“Warisan has voiced that Article 6(7) should not be repealed. If there are improvements, we can change it. But, because they (state assemblymen) voted, it (has) been repealed. (However), they (the Sabah Government) have promised to review it, involving members of the State Assembly.
“I hope this matter will be followed up and the State Government fulfils its promise to look at the framework of Article 6(7) because what is mentioned there is the party with the majority should form the Government,” he said in a press conference here, Friday.
Article 6(7) states that where a political party wins the majority of seats in the election, the leader of the party, who is also a Sabah assemblyman, shall be the member of the Legislative Assembly who is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Assembly (to be elected as Chief Minister).
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Shafie, who is also Senallang Assemblyman, said what was important is that the leader and political party chosen to lead the administration of Sabah in the future should be an individual or party that participates in the election and gets a majority.
“We don’t want a party that doesn’t contest elections in Sabah to become the Government. This contradicts the democratic system,” he said.
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Meanwhile, Shafie, who is also the Opposition Leader in the Sabah State Assembly, said the unanimous support of the Sabah assemblymen for the Bill was a clear manifestation of ensuring Sabah’s political stability and hoped that it would be gazetted as soon as possible.
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