Warisan president Shafie Apdal had no intention of dislodging Hajiji Noor as chief minister last week when his party called for a "special" press conference.
In an interview with Malaysiakini on Thursday (Jan 12), Shafie said he had intended to hold a press conference to question Hajiji's legitimacy based on the law.
Shafie (above) argued that based on the requirements of Article 6(7) of the Sabah constitution, only the leader of the party that "won" the election has the legitimacy to be chief minister.
As Hajiji quit Bersatu last month, Shafie said Warisan was of the position that Article 6(7) was no longer fulfilled.
"It is part and parcel of the legality (of the chief minister position). (I wanted to talk about) how things were not so in order,” he said, adding that he wanted to sort it out at the time.
What coup d'état?
The "special" press conference was supposed to take place at 4.30pm at the Pacific Sutera Hotel in Kota Kinabalu on Jan 5 but it was delayed and eventually cancelled at 6.30pm.
Shafie did not explain why Warisan cancelled the press conference but that the decision was to "hold on" for a while.
The following day, Sabah BN leader Bung Moktar Radin held a press conference of his own to announce his party's withdrawal of support for Hajiji.
However, that was not enough to topple Hajiji as five BN assemblypersons refused to heed Bung’s order. Moreover, seven Pakatan Harapan assemblypersons switched sides and pledged support for Hajiji, effectively giving the latter more than the 40 needed for a majority.
Shafie, who leads 19 Warisan assemblypersons on the opposition bench, explained that his press conference was eventually held on Jan 7 only after Bung made his announcement and stressed that Warisan and BN were not colluding.
"That is the wrong perception. Hajiji resigned from his party and Bung pulled out from the state government. Is that a coup d'état?
"The government broke down (at one point). The marriage had been annulled. Why should (Warisan) be blamed? That is not the way," he said.
Focus on anti-hopping laws
Now that the dust had settled in Sabah, Shafie dismissed suggestions that Warisan could challenge Hajiji's legitimacy in court because it involved a lot of time, especially since the next state election has to be called by 2025.
Instead, Warisan will be focusing its efforts on passing "anti-hopping" legislation in Sabah to promote political stability.
"I am aware of suggestions to take this to court. I know the courts can decide but it will take two or three years. By then the election would be held anyway.
"It is time for us to stop all this nonsense and install anti-party hopping laws in Sabah," said Shafie, whose tenure as chief minister was cut short in 2020 due to defections.
The 66-year-old was confident that the Hajiji-administration would be inclined to legislate anti-hopping laws because GRS was part of the unity government at the federal level that supports such laws. - Mkini
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