KOTA KINABALU: Tan Sri Musa Aman is expected to continue as Chief Minister of Sabah.
It is believed that he would be sworn in as Chief Minister for the sixth time by 8.30pm tonight the Istana Negeri.
He had stated that he obtained the simple majority which is needed to form the Government after Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan and another party assemblyman joined him.
The two STAR Assemblymen Jeffrey Kitingan and Robert Tawik@ Nordin contributed to Barisan Nasional (BN) collective seats of 29 which was a tie with Party Warisan Sabah and two allied partys, PKR and DAP who also won 29 seats.
With the additional two seats from STAR, BN has 31 seats, which was enough to form the next Government.
Musa said he had since been given the mandate by the entire 31 State Assemblyman to leads as Chief Minister.
On the claims that five United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) assemblymen have left the BN coalition to join Warisan, he said it was not true and that they were with him to form the government.
Meanwhile, Kitingan said, he had spoken with Sabah BN chairman Musa to find the best political solution for the good of Sabahans.
He said Musa had agreed to the Federation of Sabah and all the winners of the BN state constituency to form a new local party (Sabah) coalition.
He explained that it was agreed all BN / Umno Assemblymen would leave Umno and BN, as BN was no longer in power and Umno would most likely be declared as an illegal entity.
He noted that the proposed alliance Party Warisan Sabah and UPKO did not materialize, and this was the best alternative arrangement to solve the current political impasse and Sabah would also be completely free of Kuala Lumpur.
He also revealed that he was offered by Parti Keadilan Rakyat to the Deputy Prime Minister post if STAR could give PKR a Keningau parliamentary seat.
“I declined because the decision meant we would hand over the rights and sovereignty of our country to Kuala Lumpur once again,” he said.
“In fact, our position will be much better than Sarawak’s. From now on we are free to plan Sabah’s future in line with our own aspirations, culture and spirit.”-pr/BNN
