As a new day dawns, there is still no decision on who will be appointed the new Sabah chief minister. The Yang di-Pertua Negeri (YDP), Juhar Mahiruddin, has asked for some time to decide between Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chief Bung Moktar Radin and Sabah Perikatan Nasional (PN) chief Hajiji Noor.
It will now take far more time to form the state government than to elect 73 state assemblymen. The situation simply demonstrates how intensely political government formation is in a parliamentary democracy. At the same time, the YDP cannot lose sight of the law, more so when it concerns the state constitution.
Under Article 6(3) of the Sabah constitution, the YDP shall appoint as chief minister a member of the legislative assembly who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of a majority of the members of the assembly and shall appoint the other members to the state Cabinet in accordance with the advice of the chief minister from among the members of the assembly.
However, Article 6(7) states that the leader of a political party which has won a majority of the elected seats of the legislative assembly shall be the member of the legislative 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 and Malaysia – but not the world. In Canada for example, the leader of the political party who wins the most seats is summoned by the governor-general and sworn in as prime minister shortly after the election concludes.
It takes much less time to have the head of government – the prime minister – appointed than to elect 338 members across Canada to the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament.
Upon his appointment, the prime minister then forms the government. This means, in practice, picking a Cabinet which the prime minister does by appointing members of Parliament from his party as ministers. If his party has a majority in Parliament, his government will be a majority government. Conversely, it is a minority government if no party holds an outright majority, like the current government under the prime ministership of Justin Trudeau.
Now, the official tally following the announcement of the Election Commission is as follows: Warisan 29 seats, Perikatan Nasional (PN) 17, Barisan Nasional (BN) 14, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) seven, independent three, PKR two and Upko one.
Much has been said that the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (comprising BN, PN and PBS) has emerged victorious with a slim two-seat majority after bagging 38 of the 73 constituencies. But GRS was only known on Sept 12 when Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced its formation.
Given that GRS is not registered under the Societies Act 1966 (Act 335) and therefore not a political party within the meaning of section 2 of the Act, GRS is not the political party which has won a majority in the assembly.
No party or coalition of parties has in fact won a majority but Warisan has the most seats from among the political parties. Warisan president Shafie Apdal, understandably, has made allusion to the established constitutional practice of the head of the largest party being chosen to head the government, as the case is in Canada. He has therefore not conceded defeat in the race to be the Chief Minister.
The YDP may have to summon the Warisan president as the leader of the political party with the most seats. Shafie may then form a unity government, instead of a minority government.
It’s about time for a unity government – for the people of Sabah.
Hafiz Hassan is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
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