KOTA KINABALU : Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor’s appointment as the Chief Minister of Sabah on 29 September 2020 was constitutional based on Article 6(3) and 6(7) of the Sabah Constitution.
A senior lawyer, Datuk Maijol Mahap, said this in response to an article appeared on 1 January 2023 by Jeremiah Yee questioning the legitimacy of Hajiji as the Sabah’s Chief Minister.
Maijol said Hajiji’s party, Perikatan Nasional won 17 seats in the 15th General Election and he attained majority seats in the State Assembly when his party combined with Barisan Nasional (14 seats),Parti Bersatu Sabah (seven seats) and Independent (three seats) has a total of 41 of the 73 state seats.Warisan won 32.
The Yang di-Pertua Negeri subsequently appointed him as the 16th Chief Minister of Sabah on 29 November 2020.
This appointment is constitutional and legal because under Article 6(3) and 6(7) of the Sabah Constitution. The Tuan Yang Terutama has a complete discretion to appoint a member of the Assembly as a Chief Minister who is in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of a majority of the House.
“The Yang di-Pertua Negeri shall appoint as Chief Minister a member of the Legislative Assembly who is in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of a majority of the members of the Assembly and shall appoint the other members mentioned in clause (2) in accordance with the advice of the Chief Minister from among the members of the Assembly”.
Article 6(7) states as follows: –
“For the purpose of clause (3) of this Article, where a political party has won a majority
of the elected seats of the Legislative Assembly in a general election, the leader of such political party, who is a member 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.”
The words in Article 6(7) are “a political party has won a majority of the elected seats….”.
Moijol added even though Hajiji’s party at that time only managed to win 17 seats, by convention and practice all over the world, a coalition government is a legitimate government, and that’s what he did when he teamed up with Barisan Nasional, Parti Bersatu Sabah and the Independents to attain majority seats in the Assembly.
“Where no party had a clear majority, the solution was based on convention, that is, the unwritten practice which is to be followed in the absence of specific provision in the constitution.
“A party or coalition has to attain a simple majority of 37 seats to govern the state. So, there was no question on the constitutionality and legality of his appointment as the 16th Chief Minister of Sabah,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
On Hajiji’s position after he departed from Bersatu on 10 December 2022, Moijol opined that his departure from Bersatu did not affect his position as the Chief Minister of Sabah.
“Even though he has quit Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional, it is constitutional for him to remain as the Chief Minister of Sabah because as the chairman of GRS, he still enjoys the confidence of a majority of the members of the Assembly. Nobody should doubt this unless proven otherwise.
“He was constitutionally appointed by the Tuan Yang di-Pertua as the Chief Minister of Sabah, and once the appointment is done, the role of the Tuan Yang di-Pertua in such appointment ceased. So, his position as the Chief Minister of Sabah remains legitimate,” said the lawyer.
— EDITOR
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