Will new ministers finally help Sabahans?

While there have been several MPs from the KDM community who've served in the federal cabinet in the past, none have done anything significant during their tenure.

KOTA KINABALU: The unprecedented appointment of six Sabahans as federal ministers has lifted the hopes of Malaysians here that they may finally get a better deal after decades of being on the periphery of development.

The ministers, Maximus Ongkili, Joseph Kurup, Ewon Ebin, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, Mohd Shafie Apdal and Anifah Aman, march into Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s federal cabinet carrying a giant load of expectation.

are in the line of fire from an expectant electorate in the resource-rich but poorly developed state, four of them will be under the spotlight after claiming they could bring swift development to the state through the BN coalition.

Rahman, Ongkili, Ebin and Kurup, represent Umno and three smaller Barisan Nasional components – Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Upko) and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) respectively.

They now have to walk the talk.

Kota Marudu MP and PBS deputy president Ongkili is Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister, PBRS president and Pensiangan MP Kurup is a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and Upko vice-president and Ranau MP Ebin is Science, Technology and Innovation Minister.

Rahman who is of Bajau/Sama ethnicity, is Umno’s Kota Belud MP and the new Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government.

Najib re-appointed Mohd Shafie Apdal to helm the Rural and Regional Development Ministry.

It is well known here that Shafie has had a troubled relationship with Chief Minister Musa Aman.

Also re-appointed is Musa’s brother Anifah, the MP for Kimanis parlaimentary constituency. He heads the Foreign Ministry.

While Anifah carries a lesser burden of expectancy, he has also so far proved less than convincing in this role although Sabahans are no doubt proud that one of their own is on the international stage.

The brothers’ ties to the KDM community come through their mother, who is a member of the politically prominent Gunsanad family and a native of Keningau, a constituency which is now the domain of Huguan Siou and Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

GS Sundang himself was a former Sabah deputy chief minister.

Musa and Anifah’s older brother Ayub, a minister during the Berjaya government, was at one time president of the United Sabah Dusun Association (Usda).

History of poor performance

While there have been several MPs from the KDM community who served in the Federal Cabinet in the past, such as Abdul Ghani Gilong, Kasitah Gaddam and James Ongkili, none have done anything significant during their tenure in power.

The new men at the helm, Kurup, Ongkili and Ebin have one thing in common – all were against the ruling BN government in the beginning when they entered into politics.

Then they joined forces with Pairin to form PBS in 1985 and overthrew the BN government.

PBS toppled the Berjaya government, which was then under chief minister Harris Salleh and Pairin became CM.

In the 1994 polls, PBS although emerging victorious, winning a simple majority, was toppled under controversial circumstances.

PBS was ousted from power even before Pairin could be sworn in. Pairin was refused entry at the Istana for several days as he tried to get himself and his ministers sworn in.

The standoff ended when several of the party’s elected representatives jumped ship to either Umno or to start new parties. Their aim was to gain swift entry into the Umno-led BN which eventually placed its own Sakaran Dandai at the helm.

Kurup himself left PBS to form PBRS, Ebin teamed up with Dompok – another founding leader of PBS – to form Parti Demokratik Sabah which was later re-named Upko, while Ongkili stayed put in PBS and was in the opposition until 1999 when the party re-joined the BN.

All three now have the unenviable task of living up to their word and fulfilling the expectations of their electorate as well as Sabahans in general.

The KDM communities in particular are now looking to these leaders to lift them out of abject poverty and to finally erase the term `hardcore poor’ which is still often used to describe the community.

The clock is running. They will all have to stand and deliver.