Sabah elections will be next year, says Hajiji

 

Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor at an assembly of state and federal civil servants in Kota Kinabalu last month. PETALING JAYA: Sabah’s next state assembly elections will be held next year, after the legislature’s term expires, says chief minister Hajiji Noor.

He said he was certain that the state assembly would not be dissolved earlier than it should, according to a Sin Chew Daily report.

Hajiji quipped that although he has the prerogative to decide on the election date, he “does not know when that would be”.

Hajiji has previously hinted at the possibility of holding the state polls this year.

The 16th Sabah elections were held in September 2020. The current state assembly will be automatically dissolved by October next year, after which a state election will need to be held within 60 days.

The chief minister said the state government wanted to make use of its remaining time in power to resolve critical issues faced by Sabahans.

“We still have a lot of work to carry out, specifically in resolving problems currently faced by the people, such as water issues,” said Hajiji, who is chairman of the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah.

Water supply plant shut down

Separately, Hajiji’s deputy, Shahelmey Yahya, said an emergency water supply plant in Limbahau, Papar, had halted operations since Friday because of a saltwater intrusion.

Shahelmey said water reserves in the interiors are also depleting but the plant had to cease operations to prevent saltwater from being processed and supplied to consumers.

Another plant in Papar is still operating but produces only nine million litres a day rather than the usual 13 million due to the hot weather.

This means Papar will be lacking a supply of 14 million litres of treated water daily for now.

“We are hoping that the district receives more rainfall, especially in water catchment areas to allow river water to be treated. As a temporary measure, we have started to send water lorries to affected areas.” - FMT