Salleh’s appointment draws flak

Sabah wants multi-ethnicity respected and that includes appointing a State Legislative Assembly Speaker.

KOTA KINABALU: The appointment of former chief minister Salleh Said Keruak as the Sabah State Legislative Assembly Speaker has not gone down well with the opposition which has alleged that “monopoly of posts” by a single race contradicts Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s 1Malaysia concept.

“Firstly, it simply shows that Umno does not practise the 1Malaysia concept and secondly, it does not trust its other BN (Barisan Nasional) component parties,” said DAP chairman Jimmy Wong.

He said the party regrets that its call for the Umno-led BN government to promote one of the two deputy speakers – Johnny Mositun who is a Kadazan, or Frankie Chong who is of Chinese descent – to be the new speaker was not considered.

“This reflects the mentality of Chief Minister Musa Aman and Umno who want to ensure the supremacy of only one race in Sabah,” he said.

Mositun is from Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), a partner in the Sabah BN coalition while Chong is from Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).

Chong was appointed when the party was still in the coalition. He was not required to resign following SAPP’s withdrawal from the ruling coalition in 2009 on a matter of principle.

“If BN had promoted one of the deputy speakers, at least Umno BN would have been seen to practise the 1Malaysia concept,” he said, adding that in countries which practised full parliamentary democracy, the speaker would be chosen from the opposition party.

This was to show that the government of the day is open to non-partisan parliamentary procedures and proceedings.

Salleh, a fair man

Salleh, whose appointment takes effect on Jan 17, is replacing Juhar Mahiruddin who was appointed Yang di-Pertua Negeri on Jan 1.

Salleh, who is Sabah Umno liaison committee deputy chairman, is the eighth speaker of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly.

“I’m looking forward to working and cooperating with Salleh to ensure the proper and civil running of the assembly.

“I have known Salleh for more than 20 years and I know that he will not be compromised by his background as Umno deputy liaison chief in Sabah that will cause him to be biased towards the ruling party,” said Wong.

Wong also drew attention to the lack of balance among the races in the civil service, government agencies, and statutory and corporate bodies in the state.

Citing Koperasi Nelayan (Ko-Nelayan), he said the board of directors were dominated by individuals from one race.

“The absence of other races or non-Muslim directors in Ko-Nelayan is contradicting the concept of 1Malaysia that is aggressively promoted by Umno-BN to unite all Malaysians,” says Wong. - FMT