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KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s new cabinet lacks a Chinese chief vice minister to represent the community.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor, who heads the new government of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), only said he would be looking into the issue.
He declined to comment further when pressured by reporters, saying there would be an announcement in due course.
According to political observers, Hajiji had few options as none of the GRS components managed to win a majority Chinese seat in last Saturday’s election.
Among the victims was the honorary lifetime president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat, who lost his deposit in Inanam.
“It will be the first time in Sabah history that there will be no Chinese representative as a vice minister in the state cabinet,” said a political analyst, who declined to be named.
He said that the 38 seats won by GRS plus three independent seats were from Muslim-Bumiputra and non-Muslim Bumiputra communities.
It was Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), the ruling state government from 1985 to 1994, that introduced three senior deputy minister positions to reflect the top three careers in government.
The system was adopted by successive state governments as, at times, ruling parties used nominated seats in the assembly to name a leader from any community that failed to gain support.
The analyst explained that there is no hard and fast rule to say that any of the top three vice ministers must come from a particular community.
He said that what Hajiji did in choosing his three deputies was to reflect a composition of the parties based on their strengths.
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