http://dapmalaysia.org  

Rotation of post of Sabah Chief Minister to UMNO should be postponed until the Kadazandusun community has the chance to complete two 2-year terms as enjoyed by the Malay and Chinese communities Suhakam Report by Lim Kit Siang (Petaling Jaya,  Friday): Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Chong Kah Kiat is to go on a month's leave before his two-year term expires on March 27. The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has announced that UMNO will take over the Chief Minister's post, to start a new "2:1:1" rotation formula among the Muslim Bumiputera, non-Muslim Bumiputera and Chinese communities - which is most unfair to the Kadazandusun community as it has not fully participated in two rounds of the original "1:1:1" formula to rotate the Chief Minister's post from among the Malays, Kadazandusuns and the Chinese in Sabah. Both the Malay and Chinese communites have had two turns of the two-year rotation of the Chief Minister's post, but the Kadazandusun community only had a Chief Minister for only 10 months since March 1994, as shown by the following table: March 1994 - December 1994 - Tan Sri Sakaran bin Dandai December 1994 - May 1996 - Datuk Salleh Mohd Said Keruak May 1996 - May 1998 - Datuk Yong Teck Lee May 1998 - March 1999 - Tan Sri Bernard Dompok March 1999 - March 2001 - Datuk Seri Osu Sukam March 2001 - March 2003 - Datuk Chong Kah Kiat From the above, it is clear that the Muslim-Bumiputra community had 4 years 2 months, the Chinese community 4 years while the Kadazandusum community only 10 months in the rotation of the post of Chief Minister since Barisan Nasional came to power on the pledge of the rotation. In the interests of justice and fair play, before a new "2:1:1" rotation system for the Sabah Chief Ministership is implemented, with Muslim-Bumiputera serving two terms as compared to one term each for the Chinese and non-Muslim Bumiputera communities, the two rounds of "1:1:1" rotation system should be allowed to run their full course. This would mean that the rotation of the post of Sabah Chief Minister to UMNO should be postponed until the Kadazandusun community has the chance to complete two 2-year terms as enjoyed by the Malay and Chinese communities i.e. for the uncompleted slot of three years and two months. Otherwise, the biggest loser of the incomplete operation of the two rounds of "1:1:1" rotation system would be the Kadazandusun community while the political party most wronged and shortchanged by such a change of the rotation system in midstream would be the PBS and its leader Datuk Joseph Pairin Kitingan. Undoubtedly, the primary reason why PBS and Joseph Pairin returned to the Barisan Nasional was the expectation and even certain understanding that Joseph Pairin would be able to take over the Chief Ministership to fill up the incomplete slot of the post for the Kadazandusun community. These hopes are now dashed by the arbitrary abandonment of the original "1:1:1" rotation system before the Kadazamdusun community has had a full and fair participation in the rotation. What is even more shocking however is the public proposal by the former Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Yong Teck Lee, that the system of rotating the Chief Minister's post be scrapped. Yong Teck Lee is clearly paving the way for UMNO hegemony in Sabah politics, and putting himself in the good books of UMNO leaders, especially after the unfair and undemocratic gerrymandering of the electoral constituencies in Sabah had given a disproportionate and improper advantage to UMNO at the expense of other political parties, including the other component parties in Sabah Barisan Nasional. (14/2/2003) * Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman