Kota Kinabalu: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor showed he is no pushover by acting fast and accommodating Barisan Nasional in his administration when he got wind that Parti Warisan was about to execute the same despite its official pro-Sabah stand.
This saved his less-than-24 hour-old GRS-led State Government from certain collapse within two days of taking office and averted a repeat of the 2018 post-election result incident when then CM Tun Musa Aman’s 29-seat hold on the State Assembly was weakened by the crossover of Upko to Warisan.
The Head of State at that time was Tun Juhar and Musa took the matter to court, although deciding to discontinue later. This time around, it was Musa who is the TYT.
This is the second time that Hajiji had to summon his political Tai Chi (Chinese martial arts) skills to save a situation . The first was when he doused the fire started by
Sabah Umno’s Bung Moktar faction in collusion with Parti Warisan that threatened GRS in the 2023 Langkah Kinabalu move.
A GRS insider claimed that Warisan had attempted to destabilise the GRS-led state government by offering full ministerial positions to BN representatives and five independent assemblymen.
At the time, the five independent assemblymen had already pledged their support to GRS. But Hajiji was aware that it was not iron-clad because the Anti-Hop law allowed independents to switch sides but not party members.
“We had no choice but to accept BN. Otherwise, the Sabah administration could have collapsed,” the source said. Parti Warisan President Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal had earlier said he slept and did not meet any political party leaders following the announcement of the election results.
The Sabah media desperately tried to obtain immediate response from Parti Warisan on the outcome of the election but were not told where Shafie and party members would be stationed.
Which explains why there was nothing coming from the party until a press conference was called late afternoon the following day at its headquarters in Kolombong, where Shafie said the party accepted the election results.
Meanwhile, it is understood that BN had demanded the positions of deputy Chief Minister and finance minister during the initial negotiations, which Hajiji rejected.
The independent assemblymen involved are Fairuz Renddan (Pintasan), Rina Jainal (Kukusan), Awang Ahmad Sah Sahari (Petagas), Maijol Mahap (Bandau) and Jordan Jude Ellron (Tulid).
Among the 10 ministers sworn in before Musa were PH’s Melalap assemblyman Jamawai Jaafar and BN’s Sukau assemblyman Jafry Ariffin.
Hajiji was sworn in as Chief Minister for a second term on Sunday. GRS secured 29 seats in last Saturday’s election and later gained the support of three Upko assemblymen, one from PH and five independents.
