KOTA KINABALU, SABAH – Former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman ends appeal for the position vs Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal (DSSA) after 34 months of legal battles.
He said the act was not out of personal vendetta but of “his duty” to correct a wrong done earlier in replacing a validly elected new government after the 14th General Elections in 2018.
“The new government of Sabah was legally formed on 10.5.2018 and after the first cabinet meeting was held, within the next 48 hours I was asked to resign (which I refused) and replaced…
“Many do not know that simply asking an elected Chief Minister to resign without following the proper procedure as spelt out in our Constitution of Sabah is akin to disrespecting the Constitution itself.
“I cannot just obey their wishes knowing that it is wrong to do so. I will be doing a great disrespect and will be breaching the trust placed upon me by my supporters, partners in government and the people of Sabah who have given all of us the mandate to govern for the next 5 years,” he said.
The Constitution of Sabah spells out two scenarios in which he has to give up the CM post – by his own resignation or if Musa ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the Sabah Legislative Assembly.
Musa is adamant that for his case, neither of these reasons were present.
“With this swift act of manipulation, the majority of the people of Sabah who have sacrificed their time and money to practice their democratic right in 2018 were denied the government of their choice…
“This is plainly wrong. Hence my decision to proceed with this legal matter in 2018 and maintaining that legal challenge even though back then I personally was facing political persecution,” he said.
An opportunity to correct this wrong presented itself in July 2020.
An initiative started by 33 elected representatives who had represented every political party in the last General Elections in 2018 made a choice and had a clear mandate then to lead the new Sabah government.
By this time Shafie Apdal had already lost the confidence of the majority of the members of the Legislative Assembly.
Musa said this opportunity to put things right while doing justice to the people of Sabah was not taken and instead they acted hastily in making the decision to dissolve the Legislative Assembly, paving the way for a snap state election amid a pandemic.
“In return the devastating path preferred by DSSA amid an outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a spike in COVID-19 cases that affected not only those in Sabah but also to our brothers and sisters in the peninsular.
“And the outcome was clear. The majority of the rakyat evaluated as they did in 2018 and for the second time rejected Warisan and their amphibious friends…
Sabahans in 2020 have given an unequivocal and fresh mandate to the new GRS government to represent them,” he said.
Musa believes he has completed his final personal duty as a politician to the people and his colleagues by correcting the “injustices” with the appointment of GRS as the new Sabah government.
