Hajiji the cause of Sabah political crisis, claims Shafie

KOTA KINABALU - The current political crisis in Sabah is the result of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor's actions.

According to Parti Warisan (Warisan) President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said all of Hajiji's actions have been an effort to retain his position after the 15th General Election (GE15) when Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) or Perikatan Nasional (PN) failed to form the Federal government.

" The turmoil in the government today is due to the confusing statements issued by Hajiji it is quite clear in the Sabah state constitution whether in Article 6 (3) or Article 6 (7)," he said during a press conference at Warisan Headquarters in Kolombong today.

Article 6(7) states that the leader of a political party which has won a majority of the elected seats of the assembly shall be the member of the assembly who is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the assembly.

In short, the leader of the political party with a majority in the assembly shall be the chief minister.

This is unique to Sabah. The Federal Constitution does not have such a provision.

"So this is what happened when Hajiji left Bersatu and made an announcement that he would join a party, we don't know which party he wants to be the leader of, so this creates confusion.

"In the Federation we already have an anti-hopping law, I wonder why is it not done in Sabah and this is the situation we are in now that the legislation is not followed. There is no Anti-hopping law in Sabah but there is no compliance to Article 6(3), 6 (7) of the state constitution either ," he said

Shafie added that it is clear that Hajiji is currently not the leader of any party and he does not even have a party.

" I see the bickering and disputes happening in the state government between PN, GRS, and BN. This situation however is under the jurisdiction of the Yang Dipertua Negeri Sabah. (TYT).

"Not anyone, not me, not any party but only TYT has the power to determine what will happen in the current situation.

"So I see that even if someone says Coup d'etat there, Coup d'etat here, this is legislation. Nothing can be done with Coup d'etat. Even if there is no anti-hopping law but we do have to be aware of Article 6 (7) and Article 6 ( 3) of the constitution." he stressed.

He once again denied that the political unrest was solely caused by Warisan.

"It's up to TYT to decide. But sometimes politicians are the ones who are causing confusion. Change there, change here, change Bersatu, change GRS, it's not Warisan's who is doing all these things.

"Where do I have the right to tell any party members to resign from their party. Who started this, it was not who left," he questioned.