All Sabah assemblymen sworn ‘New cabinet line-up a slight let-down for in except for Musa Aman Sarawak’
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Barisan Nasional ( BN) chairman Tan Sri Musa Aman is the only state assemblyman yet to take his oath of office.
All the other BN assemblymen and those friendly to BN were sworn in yesterday in the presence of Sabah State Legislative Assembly Speaker Datuk Ahmad Abdul Rahman in a ceremony which began at about 8.30am before the start of the First Meeting of the First Session of the 15th Sabah State Assembly here.
Parti Solidariti president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said he received a letter from the office of the Speaker of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly dated June 17 to attend the ceremony yesterday to be sworn in.
“We abided by the Speaker’s instructions,” he told reporters after attending the opening of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly sitting here yesterday.
Jeffrey said the Speaker of the Sabah State Assembly and his two deputies were present at the swearing-in ceremony.
Meanwhile, Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said the representatives from BN and several other parties were sworn in again yesterday morning in compliance with the State Constitution.
He said that under the procedure of the assembly sittings, it was necessary for the Yang Dipertua Negeri to be informed and the swearingin held before the state mace to symbolise that the Yang Dipertua Negeri had given his consent.
“Not that the previous ( swearing-in of the BN representatives) ceremony is not valid, but it did not comply with the regulations,” he told reporters when met after the opening of the 15th Sabah State Assembly by Sabah Yang Dipertua Tun Juhar Mahiruddin here.
Mohd Shafie said that under the regulations for the state assembly sittings, the swearingin ceremony of the assemblymen must be held at the first meeting of the State Legislative Assembly.
“We do not want to set a precedence where, after an election, two or three people enter the Speaker’s Chambers to be sworn in because there must be a notification, the Yang Dipertua Negeri must have knowledge (of the event) and the mace must be there as a symbol of the Yang Dipertua Negeri’s authority, which is handed down to the Speaker empowering him to preside over the assembly,” he said.
At about 8am yesterday, all the people’s representatives allied to Sabah BN chairman Musa Aman, except Musa himself, were sworn in again as state assemblyman in the presence of Sabah Assembly Speaker before the opening of the First Session of the 15th Sabah State Assembly here.
On June 11, all the 43 Warisan assemblymen, including the four appointed assemblymen, led by Parti Warisan Sabah president Mohd Shafie attended a special sitting of the Sabah Assembly and were sworn in. They also approved a vote of confidence in Mohd Shafie as the chief minister.
However, all the 21 state assemblymen from Umno and the former BN component parties such as PBS, PBRS, Upko and Solidariti allied to Musa were not present at the special sitting.
The next day ( June 12), 19 of the 21 assemblymen took their oath in the presence of the Sabah Assembly Speaker.
Musa, who is Sungai Sibuga state assemblyman, is currently undergoing medical treatment in the United Kingdom. — Bernama KUCHING: It is a slight let- down that the Pakatan Harapan ( PH) federal cabinet sees only one Sarawakian full minister, says Sarawak Business Federation secretary- general Jonathan Chai.
He said Sarawak deserved a stronger representation at the federal level if the new PH government was committed to treating Sarawak as an equal partner within the context of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“I am a bit disappointed as a Sarawakian, as we only have one full minister in the new cabinet line-up.
“If the PH government is serious about treating us as equal partner as accorded under the MA63 rather than a mere state, we deserve a fairer and bigger representation in the federal cabinet,” he said when prompted for comments on the appointment of Selangau MP Baru Bian as Works Minister and Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen as Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, yesterday.
Chai, who is president of Association of the Boards of Management of Aided Chinese Primary Schools Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Division, pointed out that Sarawak had not been given fair treatment compared to other states.
“By any standard, we have not been treated fairly compared to Selangor and Johor or even Sabah which has been allocated with three,” he said.
He said Sarawak had six full ministers in the previous administration.
“And with only one now from Sarawak, the figure speaks for itself.”
He said he had expected Saratok MP Ali Biju to be appointed at least a deputy minister to represent the Iban community ‘to give the new cabinet a better coverage’.
However, he said Sarawakians would have little choice but to make do since the federal cabinet line-up was already finalised.
“As it is, we could only hope that the interest of Sarawak would still be well taken care of by the new administration despite the reduction in number of Sarawakians in the new lineup.
“After all, policies favouring Sarawak will, in substance, be more important than the number of representatives in the cabinet,” he added.
Chai hoped that with Baru being sworn in as Works Minister, more allocation of funds and projects would be channelled to Sarawak.
He said the infrastructure in Sarawak required a fair bit of catching up to do compared to its counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia.
“In particular, he (Baru) should ensure continued implementation of the Pan Borneo Highway and other ongoing projects.
“Any review intended to be carried out by the new government should not hinder the progress of these projects,” added Chai.
We abided by the Speaker’s instructions. Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, Parti Solidariti president