I’m the only legitimate leader – Shafie

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Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal

KOTA KINABALU: There is no question of Sabah having two Chief Ministers.

The new Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal has asserted that he is the only legitimate leader of the state, as this can be backed by legal precedents.

The Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president was sworn in as the Chief Minister on Saturday night, just less than 48 hours after Tan Sri Musa Aman’s swearing-in ceremony on Thursday night.

During last night’s press conference, Shafie revealed that the Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin had called for Musa to tender his resignation on Saturday morning. This was pursuant to the Federal Constitution as Musa had lost the majority in the state assembly.

“According to the Federal Constitution, when a person does not have the majority to continue his duty as the Chief Minister, (that person) would have to resign or dissolve the state assembly, with the approval of the Head of State,” he said.

He compared this situation to what had happened in Perak several years ago where then-Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin had to step down as he had lost the majority.

He added that even Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan had tendered his resignation accordingly and as a ‘gentleman’ when he lost the majority in 1994.

Shafie said Musa can challenge the decision if wants to as he cannot stop people from taking legal actions. However, he is not concerned with it as previous case judgments have proven his argument.

He stressed that there is no ‘constitutional crisis’ due to Article 7 (1) of the Federal Constitution, which clearly stated that if a person does not have the majority, he should resign or dissolve the assembly.

First in his agenda would be to create job opportunities for the people of Sabah and to ensure the people’s representatives would not be part of the Board of Directors or hold a position as chairman in any organizations.

He said he would really like the representatives to really focus on serving the people of Sabah.

He added that he would be forming the state cabinet very soon and some of the Warisan leaders would also be given positions in the federal cabinet.