Revised: Lame Duck Chief Ministers Beholden to Kuala Lumpur
2001-02-25
This is a revised version of what I had sent earlier.
MGG
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The Sabah National Front is in crisis. The UMNO chief
minister, Dato' Osu Sukam, ends his two-year term as chief
minister in March, and it is time for a non-Muslim bumiputra
to take the reins. The man most likely is Dato' Jeffrey
Kitingan, the brother of Dato' Joseph Pairin, the opposition
Parti Bersatu Sabah leader. The Prime Minister had thought
of this in 1994 to reduce politicking and prevent his forces
from crossing the floor to the PBS, then united the
non-Muslim bumiputra forces behind it. The chief minister
would be chosen in succession for two-years terms amongst
the Muslim bumiputras, non-Muslim bumiputras, and the
Chinese, the three major groups in the state. For a time it
worked. It does not any more. He now believes that two
years is too short, and the chief minister must have at
least five years. I had said as such at the time, and still
believe it to be so.
But the Prime Minister wants the present man to
continue for three years more. That is unfair. Accept the
five-year term, but let that take effect from the next chief
minister. When Dato' Osu was appointed chief minister, he
knew it was for two years. He did not object then. He
should not now. The sneaking suspicion amongst opposition
members in Sabah say this is a backdoor device to have
another Muslim bumiputra to be appointed chief minister.
UMNO in Sabah is riddled with factions; the last time I
counted there were nine, more factions than there are
members in the state National Front.
Any extension of Dato' Osu's two-year term would be
more resented in UMNO than in the National Front or the
opposition. The Sabah National Front members are mutely
incensed. When a Sabah politician says, as the former chief
minister, Tan Sri Yong Teck Lee did, that people should not
be anxious but "respect the Prime Minister's decision in
resolving the current political situation", the National
Front is in a crisis. The parties are so divided within that
it needs the federal Prime Minister to smooth matters.
The parties in the Sabah National Front coalition would
put their case before the Prime Minister. Broadly speaking,
the Muslim bumiputras in the state want a five-year term
while the others prefer the two-year term in rotation to
continue. It has worked, as Tan Sri Yong says, for seven
years. He objects to the chief ministers being terms as
"lame ducks": that "only arises in the final few months of
the Chief Minister's two-year term." Analysts in Kota
Kinabalu say that if the UMNO chief minister continues for
another three-years, the National Front may not be able to
hold on to the non-Muslim bumiputras.
"Muslim Bumiputras" and "Non-Muslim Bumiputras" are the
preferred politically neutral terms for what is in fact a
hodge podge of numerous tribal groups, the majority broadly
classified as Kadazans and Dusuns, the latter living near
the towns are invariably Roman Catholics and the Dusuns
animists. They dominate the political and cultural world,
but it is the small Muslim community, as in neighbouring
Sarawak, which has the eye of Kuala Lumpur. It is not
without reason Kadazans and Dusuns believe this demand that
the chief ministers should have a five-year term is to
entrench Muslim-dominant rule. And they gather around the
former chief minister, Dato' Joseph Pairin Kitingan.
But even this five-year term would not resolve the
underlying conflicts in Sabah. Neither the original
proposal of two-year chief ministers and, now, five-year
chief ministers, are fraught with difficulties. It is not
the Prime Minister who should decide upon this. It should
be the state assembly. The National Front leadership in
Kuala Lumpur wants to control how the state National Front
leaders run their states. It should let the state assembly
to decide who it wants as its chief minister.
At present, Kuala Lumpur decides who the chief minister
should be. This is not peculiar to Sabah and Sarawak. In
several states in the peninsula, the mentris besar were
forced upon the states. There is no commitment of that
chief minister or mentri besar to that state, since his
allegience is to the Prime Minister who put him there. If
the state National Front is divided or there are factions
within the component parties, it worsens the political
climate. As in Sabah now.
M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my
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