KOTA KINABALU:. Sabah has been rocked by political instability since the last elections which were held on 9th May 2018. Tan Sri Musa Aman was sworn in as the Chief Minister on 10th May 2018. On 12th May 2018, barely 48 hours later, Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal was sworn in as the Chief Minister, despite Tan Sri Musa’s protestations that he continued to command the support of the majority in the Legislative Assembly. Tan Sri Musa took the matter of his unlawful dismissal as the Chief Minister to the Federal Court but regrettably the case remains to be determined by the Court. The political turmoil in Sabah continued over the last two years unabated. On 29th July 2020, Tan Sri Musa garnered the support of 33 Assemblypersons and sought to form the State Government. Dato’ Seri Shafie resisted this attempt by Tan Sri Musa to form the State Government and advised or requested that the TYT dissolve the State Legislative Assembly. The TYT accordingly dissolved the State Legislative Assembly on 30th July 2020. Tan Sri Musa and the 33 Assemblypersons duly challenged the dissolution in the Courts on the basis that it was unconstitutional but regrettably the matter not yet been determined by the Federal Court. The political justification given by Datuk Seri Shafie for the dissolution was that the mandate should be given back to the people of Sabah to decide on who their government should be. Elections were held under the very difficult conditions of the Covid 19 pandemic and also the attendant economic destruction that ensued. The Covid 19 cases rose dramatically during the campaign period. The elections were held on 26th September 2020. Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, comprising of BN, PBS and PN garnered 38 of the 73 seats in the Legislative Assembly. PN won 17 seats, whilst BN won 14 seats and PBS 7 seats. Warisan Plus won a total of 32 seats. Warisan together with DAP won 29 seats UPKO won 1 and PKR 2 respectively. The people of Sabah have voted and exercised their democratic right to choose their government. Warisan Plus must accept that they have lost this election and must accept defeat in a dignified and constructive manner. Shafie is relying on a wholly misconceived and strained interpretation of Article 6(7). In law, there is no basis for Shafie to claim tgat he has the majority in the Legislative Assembly. Article 6(7) of the Sabah Constitution is only applicable where a political party has won more than 50% of the seats in the Legislative Assembly. This provision was interpretated by the High Court in Tan Sri Musa Aman v Tun Datuk Seri Panglima Hj Juhar as follows : “It is plainly clear that no single political party in Sabah had won a majority of the elected seats of the Assembly in GE-14 whereby its leader can claim that he is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Assembly. As such, cl. (7) of art. 6 does not come into play and was not applicable when the first defendant exercised his discretion under art. 6(3) of the Sabah Constitution.” It is therefore clear that the word “majority” in Article 6(7) of the Sabah Constitution refers to a majority of the members of the assembly. Warisan Plus does not command the support of a majority of the members of the assembly. It has been defeated. It would be a travesty and betrayal of the trust given by the people to the democratic process to seek to avoid the natural consequences of losing an election by trying to cling on to power. An opposition has a noble role and that is to keep a duly elected government in check. This is the new role which Warisan Plus should aspire to perform.
-Datuk Mariati Robert, Former Sabah State Attorney General, Kota Kinabalu, 28 September, 2020
