UPKO told to show respect

0

Talk to top leadership before calling for revival of CM rotation system – Gerakan

KOTA KINABALU: United Pasokmomogun KadazanDusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) Keningau Branch has been advised to talk to their top leadership before calling for any proposal concerning the state administration.

Gerakan vice president Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah in giving the advice yesterday, stressed that in politics, it was vital to respect the structure of leadership.

“I have a lot of branches under my care, and some may come up with weird and various requests, but I believe that it is important to talk to the top leadership before bringing matters to the Barisan Nasional straight,” he said.

Tan was commenting on Keningau UPKO’s call for the revival of the rotation system for the Chief Minister’s post to make way for power sharing among the BN component parties in the state.

“I do not know whether this is the party’s stand or just the branch-level view … so I would not like to comment further; I will just give them advice for now,” he said.

UPKO Keningau head Datuk Justin Guka said the call was among the motions brought up by the division during the Keningau UPKO Convention held over the weekend.

The Bingkor assemblyman, however, disclosed that the rotation system should be changed where previously, one was only allowed to hold the top post for two years.

“It should be changed to at least two terms, and after that, the leader would no longer be eligible to hold office,” he said.

Commenting on the same issue, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Youth chief Chin Shu Ying proposed that should the rotation system be reintroduced, it should have a longer rotation period of at least one full five-year election term.

Chin said this is to allow the elected chief minister of the day to plan and carry out his development plans before passing the torch to the next candidate in line.

“There has been a lot of debate on this issue but I think it should not be like the last time. Two-year rotation system is just a waste of time, you can’t hardly do anything in such short period of time,” he said.

“It is always not good when one leader stays for too long, it is unhealthy. Maybe this is a way to prevent this, but there could also be other ways.

“Whatever it is, at the end of the day it is up to the BN leadership to decide what is the best way,” added Chin, careful not to make any indication whether he or his party supported or rejected UPKO’s call.

UPKO Tawau, meanwhile, will allow the members to debate on the proposal during its convention on December 15.

Its chairman, Sylvester S Taing, said UPKO Tawau would know its members’ stand on the matter after its convention at Tass Community Hall which would be officiated by UPKO president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.

“So officially I do not know the members’ stand. However, my personal opinion is that the said proposal should be put forward for the members to debate and come to a conclusion,” he said when commenting on UPKO Keningau’s call to revive the rotation system for the Chief Minister’s post.

“As a KDM (KadazanDusun Murut), I agree with Keningau’s idea, but if it is accepted, the term should be for five years or the state assembly term. This is to allow the CM during the said term to successfully implement his development agenda for the state and rakyat,” he said.

Sylvester added that this would also give an opportunity to the major races in Sabah to lead the state and to also show that the power sharing concept was truly being practised.

A rotation system was used in Sabah between 1994 and 2005 as a mean to distribute power among these three main communities, with chief ministers representing each of them taking turn to hold office every two years.

The system was introduced by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad when several elected representatives from Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) defected to BN and helped the coalition form the government after the 1994 state elections.

Sabah to date has 14 chief ministers, seven of whom had served under the rotation system, including Datuk Seri Musa Aman who has remained in office ever since the system was discontinued.

Musa, sixth chief minister Datuk Harris Salleh and current Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan currently share the record as the longest serving chief ministers, having held the State’s number one post for about nine years each.

Harris helmed the State Government from June 1976 to April 1985 under Berjaya before PBS took over through Pairin until March 1994, while Musa has served under Umno since March 2003.