Shafie claims to be lawful Sabah CM, says governor told Musa to resign

As far as Parti Warisan Sabah president Mohd Shafie Apdal is concerned, he is now the latest and only Sabah chief minister.

Having been sworn in before the governor Juhar Mahiruddin tonight, Shafie discounted the scenario of Sabah having two chief ministers, despite state BN chief Musa Aman’s insistence that he has yet to resign as chief minister.

“Because the governor already asked him to resign, after that (if) he doesn’t resign, then automatically the governor will call somebody who can command (the state assembly).

“Whatever the number of seats (Musa has) is no longer valid,” Shafie said during a press conference at his home after being sworn in as the chief minister.

Shafie also denied that the current situation represented a constitutional crisis.

“If only a person can accept he doesn’t command the majority then there’s no constitutional crisis.

“The interpretation of the law is quite clear. You have to resign.”

Musa, he said, was free to take legal action if he wanted to.

“We can’t stop him from taking legal action, but there has been precedence in Perak before where the (second menteri besar was ruled valid).”

The Perak constitutional crisis occurred after four PKR and DAP assemblypersons left the Pakatan Rakyat coalition, thereby leading then Perak menteri besar Nizar Jamaluddin to lose majority support in the Perak state assembly.

The Federal Court in 2010 delivered a unanimous decision in declaring that BN’s Zambry Abd Kadir was the rightful Perak menteri besar.

The court dismissed the appeal by Nizar, and as such denied his quest to be declared the menteri besar.

'According to law'

Meanwhile, Shafie insisted that the process of swearing him in as the Sabah chief minister was done according to the law.

“I sent a letter to the governor together with the statutory declarations from the state assemblypersons, and they were called by the governor himself and asked whether they had really signed the letter.

“Based on his confidence (with me), he called Musa (to resign), because the state constitution is clear, that if one does not have the majority support then he has to resign or dissolve the assembly.”

Citing article 7(1) of the state constitution, Shafie said it was clear that the chief minister must command the confidence of the majority.

Shafie also confirmed that he had spoken to the Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak, Richard Malanjum, who assured him that his appointment was constitutional.

Asked whether he will be moving to Sri Gaya – the chief minister’s official residence – Shafie pointed out how he already has a home in Kota Kinabalu.

His priority now, he said, was all about helping the rakyat.

“I want to help the rakyat, the rakyat are important. I want to ensure that Sabah will be administered well.

“Like what I’ve promised, whatever spelled out during the campaign (will be fulfilled).”

The status of the Sabah state government was in question as Musa denied that he had resigned, and neither did any of his newly appointed state cabinet members.

In Wednesday's polls, Warisan and its allies won 29 of the 60 seats in the Sabah legislative assembly, which is two short of a simple majority.

However, Musa claimed that he had the numbers after recruiting two Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Star) lawmakers.

Musa was thereafter sworn in as the Sabah chief minister.

Warisan, however, yesterday claimed to have 35 lawmakers after six BN representatives defected. -Mkini