Dr Yee appointed Sabah deputy chief minister

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TOGETHER WE STAND: Yee (left) and Pairin raise their hands after Yee’s appointment. — Bernama photo

KOTA KINABALU: Resource Development and Information Technology Minister Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai has been appointed Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah representing the Chinese community.Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said Yee would fill up the vacancy left by Datuk Peter Pang En Yin, who was dropped from the post on March 16 but retained as state Youth and Sports Minister.

Dr Yee, 56, is Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) deputy president and Api Api assemblyman.

Sabah has three deputy chief ministers.

The other two are Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan (representing the Kadazandusun community) and Datuk Yahya Hussin (representing the Muslim Bumiputera).

“This is a normal practice to allocate the posts among the three major communities to ensure the interests of all are taken care of,” Musa told reporters after chairing the weekly cabinet meeting yesterday.

Musa said: “We have looked into this from various perspectives. In this regard, our priority is to take care of the interests of the people in the best possible way, in this case, the interest of the Chinese community.

“It is for this reason that we appointed Dr Yee to fill up the post and we are confident that his appointment will be accepted positively.”

Musa added that Yee had a vast experience, a qualified doctor and lawyer, and had been representing the Chinese since 1980.

“He is the most senior Chinese minister in the Sabah cabinet,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had been informed of the appointment, which takes effect immediately.

Asked on the response from the BN component parties, and whether they had problems with PBS having two deputy chief ministers, Musa said, “This is what we have decided; there is no problem.”

He added that the appointment to the three posts was based on representations from the three communities and not based on political parties.

On the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which is now without any ministerial representation in the state cabinet, Musa said its president Datuk Liew Vui Keong, the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, as well as party representatives could contact or meet him to discuss about it.

“We will continue the good relation with LDP … maybe in the future, we can appoint (their leaders) to important posts in the government. We believe that we will give due consideration to this in future.

“The president and their assemblymen can always contact me and they are free to see me. I’m ready to listen,” he said.

Pang, who was then the deputy chief minister, quit LDP, a Barisan Nasional (BN) component party, on Sept 1, after the party’s deputy president, Chin Su Phin, remarked that the party’s leadership was no longer able to work with Musa, who is Sabah BN chairman.

Pang later joined Gerakan.

The LDP is now represented by Pang Yuk Ming, who is Assistant Minister of Infrastructure Development.

He is one of LDP’s vice-presidents.

Meanwhile, Yee expressed his gratitude to the prime minister for agreeing to his appointment, and to Musa for his confidence in appointing him to the post.

He also thanked his party president, Pairin, for “his support and mentorship.”

Yee said the new appointment brought about extra responsibilities and said that he hoped to carry them out accordingly with the full cooperation from all quarters, including those from the various BN component parties.

“We will continue to work hard to deliver our services for the betterment of the people in accordance to the ‘People First, Performances Now’ principle,” he said. — Bernama