By :
MOHD JEFRI RADIUS
WOULD our domestic political
organization namely UPKO’s two resolutions for both firstly, the Rotation of
Deputy Premier from Bornean States and secondly, the revival of Mahathir’s Administrative
Concept once used in Sabah ever materialized before the coming 13th National
Polls?
An article with the topic
“UPKO proposal for a Deputy PM from Bornean State is logical “ (Comment &
Analysis Column - Daily Express 25th Sept 2011). Some party delegates raised
the resolution during the party’s
triennial conference held in Penampang
about a year ago . Deputy
Premier Tan Sri Muhyddin
Yassin , who was
invited to officiate the
function advised the
delegates ,” It
was better for the
matter designed to see
whoever is appointed is made
the Second Deputy Prime
Minister be discussed at
BN Supreme Council .Any proposal can be discussed before
the top leaders . We have a council
where all leaders
sit and submit any matter they want to . Normally , a decision
is reached by consensus “
Certainly , there
are other factors that need
to be considered before the
resolution in question could materialize
, although it may appear excellent in the name of
national integration .Other
BN Components parties
based in the Peninsular
(Gerakan, PPP, MIC and MCA)
will certainly support
the idea upon sensing
the feasibility that they could as well
be considered to spin the
wheel of the
DPM Rotation if the situation
warrants them to do so alternatively, whereas UMNO will
surely be given one of the
Deputy Premier slots
for the Malay Community
unless the party ‘s
the Supreme Council
is willing to forgo it .
In the event that
UPKO ’s political resolution
for DPM
rotation gets the green light
from every member of BN
component leaders , Malaysia
will turn out to the
the first country
in the South East Asian Region , to
have two or three
deputies assisting the
Premier to run the
country .
While the
dreams of our
Bornean political leaders
to fill the slot
for the nation’s
number two top administrative post has yet to be turned into a reality, looks like UPKO
is raising another
proposal made by
its assemblyman for Bingkor
Datuk Justin Guka at the
party’s recent convention, calling
for the revival
of the CMs Rotation on
condition that the
earlier one term version
of two years need
to be reviewed
to a longer two terms
( four years ) of tenure to whoever
is appointed to
take turn as the CMs.
In another
note, Liberal
Democratic Party ( LDP
) Youth Chief Chin
Shu Ying, in his
follow up comment on similar issue,
proposed that it should
have a longer
period of at least one full
five – year election term in the
event that the
system is reintroduced, thereby giving
the CM of the
day to execute
his development plans prior
to passing the
button to the next
candidate in line and stressing further
a point that
“A Two Year rotation
system is just a waste
of time, you can’t hardly
do anything in such short Period
of time.”
Every President
of current BN
parties in Sabah would
certainly be happy to
support the revival
of the power
sharing concept, as it
will render chances
to the relevant
communities found in the State, to be
represented by their
respective political leaders
in the coalition front
upon being appointed
as the CM of
Sabah, an attainment
that would certainly
make the persons
proud in the chronologies
of their political
careers.
On the
broader perspective , the wonder
of the political philosophy
practiced in most democratic
countries including Malaysia,
legally spelt out that
any political organization
that commands the majority
or gathers sufficient seats or simple
majority, after the polls, can not be denied from
forming the government
be it at State or
National Level.
However, the
political history in Sabah
has a lot to tell about the
uniqueness of the reality
that had changed its political landscape . It might
even contradict and
appeared rather amusing
indeed and ran counter to
the basic principle of
democracy, but that was` the strategic
move made by someone
, who had the full
authority ,discretionary power and command in the country’s administration at that material time.
The Rotation System of CM post
for a period of two year period introduced
during the era of Mahathir
Administration was specially
designed with the political missions and visions of consolidating the people of
Sabah, in the wake of UMNO’s
success in 1994 in toppling
the then PBS Opposition
State Government which had
been at the helm of
administration for nine years .
It was
considered a very timely and
right formula for Sabah
Politics at that specific time so to speak.
By virtue of the Rotation
system, a Chief Minister was chosen
and appointed from among the ruling
BN component parties
in Sabah with the blessing
of the Head of State, to represent the
Muslim Bumiputera , Non – Muslim Bumiputera and the Chinese
communities for a period of
two years, appeared positive in the first place.
The system also
pave the opportunity
to the BN component
parties including a party which won only one
State seat to become
the Chief Minister of
Sabah (Former President of
Liberal Democratic Party
(LDP) Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat).
Dr Mahathir, the
creator of the
concept , was not politically aware
of the social - economic
implications and the consequential results
of the system that he introduced
in Sabah politics , which had an
adverse effect on the people of Sabah
to some extend . Neither did Mahathir
stake high hope nor
expecting that his
political strategy to
contribute well to the
State’s economy.
Indeed, it was
a brilliant move in his
political chessboard to
incorporate a combination of power sharing solution
just for the sake of
uniting the Sabahans
regardless of races, creeds
and social belief etc.
However, the
loopholes later surfaced
at the expanse of the State ‘s
economic development .
It is still fresh in the minds
of Sabahans that
former Permanent Secretary
in the State Finance Ministry
Datuk Yusof Mohd Kassim
once disclosed “
Rotation dried up State Treasury
“ (D.E 2nd Feb 2010). This was
later supported by Datuk Herbert
Timbon Lagadan , the Vice
President of PBS , who said “ The
End of Rotation
was `a blessing (D.E
5th Feb 2010).
Yusof deserves
praise for telling the truth on
what our political leaders would rather hide .How could this
bleeding of the State
Treasury happen every two years
and why?
Could we blame the extravagant , opportunistic
attitudes or mentalities of the CMs
in questions , who took turns to rule
and were running against time ? Could
we pin it down
to immaturity or incapabilities of the respective CMs while entrusted to hold
the State’s top political post?
The short
span allocated is one factor and
the maturity and individualistic capability
of the CM being appointed
to take turn occupying the position is another factor.
During the Rotation , just to
reveal a few ,
it was an open secret that various
Government departments spent
substantial sum of money totaling
millions of ringgits in vehicles rentals from Angkatan Hebat when the State Coffer
was facing financial constraints.
The State
lost Sabah Bank that
has since become successful as Alliance Bank and
the so called management
buyout involving KPD’s assets
is no exception . It appears rather amusing to the
knowledge of members of the public that
some of the people who were in
charge during the sale are
now seen fit to advise
the State Government.
In my previous
article published in the
Daily Express of its Sunday 28th
Feb 2010 entitled Sabahans
now realize that Rotation was a
curse, some paragraphs reads “The change of CMs
every two years under the Rotation
infused a series of
administrative and socio-economic complications. A number of Government assets
were sold and privatized if that
had not been done so under
PBS and the Forest Management
Unit ( FMU ) Concept was no
exception as well.“
In 1997, the State
Reserve was only
about RM 60 million which according to
Kassim, was only enough to pay
the salaries of State Civil
Servants for two months The
amount increased up to RM 300
million after the 1997 –
2000 Asian Economic Crisis.“
However, when Datuk Seri Musa Aman
took over the baton from
Chong as
the CM until the abolishment of the Rotation System in 2004 , he managed
to restore the financial status of
the State ‘s Coffers ,whereby the State
Coffer generated a total
reserve of about
RM 2.4 billion . A success
that no Sabah CM has attained .
Generally, it was
the post – rotation
administration under Musa that
was able
to strengthen the financial
status of the State
Coffer on the road ro recovery
apart from bringing robust economic growth, which
had in turn tagged the
State to be the first State Government
to get the Triple
A Rating from RAM Service Sdn Bhd, which had conducted
professional evaluation and assessment
showing the State’s ability
to honour its commitment.
Hence, UPKO’s Bingkor
Rep Justin ‘s resolution
is just a motion
brought forth to the views of
the party’s delegates
and such a proposal
is nothing wrong
. UPKO’s President
Tan Sri Bernard Dompok
cum the Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister
was quoted as
saying “This is
what democracy is all about - the people
are free to express themselves. Of course, this was just
one of the many resolution
raised by party divisions, which they at
the leadership level, had to digest before making a decision.“
Paradoxically , many are
pessimistic rather than
optimistic that any attempt
or move to
bring back to life
on something proven to have an
adverse effect during it implementation,
is not worth an effort
in the true sense of the
words for a number
of reasons with
reference to the
instances of fiascos
that cropped up
and seen merely by the tip of
an iceberg during the era of its implementation in
the State.
The excuses
that a CM
would need more
time instead of the two year
during the Rotation System before
he could be seen as “ an efficient
and contributive leader
playing his roles "is
rather viewed as
questionable from a shortsighted
angles, as only
those infused with the
opportunistic political agenda would
probably think so, but
not those who are
truly genuine in their
political commitment to serve
the People and the State
during the 24 months
of tenure as CM.
Is the time frame
of 24 months
allocated to the respective CMs
for a Rotation really
a short period
for a visionary
CM, depriving him of
the ample time frame
to plan, formulate and
implement his fruitful
ideas for the State
and the people?
One term
of two year
is 24 months , Dr Mahathir must
have a distinctive reason
behind for fixing
this time frame for
the respective CMs
appointed from among the
three Sabah communities
during the height of
the Rotation Administrative Concept.
We do not
expect that particular CM to base
his State development
Plan for a
Mega five year
development projects? What
that CM needs
to do is
just utilize or
make use of
the budget allocated
during the two year term
of Rotation, when
he leaves office upon expiration of his terms, the next
CM will need
to undergo similar process.
So what
is the big fuss
about the one term of
two years and what
is the motives
behind the motion
in getting the CMs
Rotation cycle be extended
to a longer
terms or a
full five year term? We
can not rebuke
those CMs for
not bringing Mega
project during their
terms of office in view of the designed
time structure, which is self explanatory.
Remember the
fact that the
appointment of CMs
via the Rotation Concept was
not a mandate
gathered from the electorates. Hence, there is
no justification on the need
of extending or
prolonging the original version of
one term of two years
to a two terms
of four years or a
full five year term period. The Federal Constitution will
need to be reviewed and applicable to
every State through out
the Country.
If this scenario ever
takes place, the new political landscape, it
will be truly
an amusing laughing
stock to many democratic
countries especially within
the neighbourhood Asean
countries.
Let us
ask sensible questions, what is the guarantee
that a person appointed to be
the CM in the Rotation
System for a longer
term of 48
0r 60 months
would do more
better and excellent job compared
to those appointed
for merely a
period of 24 months?
The quantum
of time scale is of
course significant, however, the
irony is If the
appointed person for
the State Top could
get the ball rolling
the moment he steps in
office and started
bringing results through
his hard work with dedication and
genuine commitment, without any
hidden political missions neither
the agendas to satisfy his
personal or individualistic interests
while on the job, he would excel better to
achieve his scope
of duties within
the 24 months of
office.
Indeed Such
personalities are rare
species in our current political
generation, but we do find leaders
with these quality
and credibility considered
as “ an Asset and Not Liability" to the
State and People
while in office regardless
of the time
scale.
Some time a
flash of hints would
get into our curious
minds giving a
transparent pictures which
could explain the
probable reasons, why some
of our local politicians opted
to seek and
demand a review for a
longer term of
appointment for the State
top post in the event that the
defunct CMs Rotation
System is brought
back to life again
in Sabah administrative backbone.
The people of
Sabah have seen the changing tides of government
since the dawn of
independence with records
and history of
comparable State leaders
hailing from different
roots and backgrounds including
those appointed during
the Rotation System.
It is an open
secret that many
living Sabahans are
likely non receptive or
not in favour
of the administrative system
known to have
breed factors that
had once pushed
the State to
Era of The Dark
Ages.
Hence, for the
sake of maintaining the
current robust economic
status quo, there is no justification neither
it is timely to
resurrect the CMs
Rotation that had left dots of
unhealed socio – economic scars
during the crux
of its implementation. Only
God Knows!
Gerakan Vice
President Datuk Raymond Tan
even advised UPKO’s Keningau
Division to show respect
via discussion with
the top leadership
before bringing forth the proposal
in
question to BN
straight.
The lingering
question now is Will Datuk Seri
Najib Tun Razak as
the PM and
Chief of BN
render his blessing
and endorse his seal of approval
to the request of all those concern
towards the revival
of Mahathir’s brain child
upon going through to
the pros and cons of
the administrative concept
once used for Sabah
politics before being
scrapped in 2004? The answer is
at everyone’s guess.
The Father
of Indian Independence and National Hero Mahatma
Ghandi had left
a famous universal
message for the
living generations of
mankind to ponder at all
time saying “Earth provides enough
to satisfy everybody’s need
but not everyman ‘s greed.“
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