Accept defeat with dignity, former Sabah AG tells Warisan
KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah state attorney-general Mariati Robert said Warisan Plus must accept the defeat in the state election in a dignified and constructive manner.
She also urged Warisan Plus to respect the people's mandate won by Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, whose candidates were returned to 38 seats in Saturday's state assembly elections.
“Warisan Plus does not command the support of a majority of the members of the assembly. It has been defeated,” she added.
Mariati said for Warisan Plus to cling to power would be seen as “a travesty and a betrayal of the trust” of the people.
She urged the party to accept the “noble role” of an opposition party, to keep the government in check.
“This is the new role which Warisan Plus should aspire to perform,” she said.
Mariati disputed an argument that has been put forward that the Governor should appoint a chief minister from Warisan Plus based on Article 6(7) of the state constitution.
She said the Governor would appoint the leader of the party with most seats only if the party had won more than 50% of the seats in the state assembly.
Warisan won 29 seats on Saturday (six seats through candidates from DAP), PKR two and Upko one for a total of 32, five seats short of a majority.
Mariati said the arguments that relied on Article 6(7) were “clearly wrong and misconceived”, she said.
She explained that Article 6(7) of the Sabah Constitution is only applicable where a political party has won more than 50 percent of the seats in the Legislative Assembly. This provision was interpretated by the High Court in Tan Sri Musa Aman v Tun Datuk Seri Panglima Hj Juhar as follows:
“It is plainly clear that no single political party in Sabah had won a majority of the elected seats of the Assembly in the 14th general election whereby its leader can claim that he is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Assembly. As such, cl. (7) of art. 6 does not come into play and was not applicable when the first defendant exercised his discretion under art. 6(3) of the Sabah Constitution.”
It is therefore clear that the word “majority” in Article 6(7) of the Sabah Constitution refers to a majority of the members of the assembly.
GRS won a total of 38 seats in the 73-seat state assembly, comprising 17 for Perikatan Nasional, 14 for Barisan Nasional and seven for PBS.
“An opposition has a noble role and that is to keep a duly elected government in check.
This is the new role which Warisan Plus should aspire to perform.”