KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin and two other Sabah Barisan Nasional state ministers have been moved to the section where the Opposition bloc sits at a special sitting of the state assembly here.
In a historic low turnout, only 44 out of 79 assemblymen turned up for the sitting on Tuesday (Jan 10), which was held to table Bills regarding gas supply and the setting up of the Sabah Energy Commission.
This comes amid the Sabah Barisan chief's announcement last week that they were severing its ties with the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.
Bung Moktar, who is Deputy Chief Minister and state Works Minister, was not placed on the Cabinet section next to Hajiji and was moved to the Opposition section.
Besides Bung Moktar, Sabah Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Yakubah Khan and state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin were also placed in the Opposition section.
Yakubah is the Sabah Umno deputy chief while Jafry is the state Umno secretary. They were among the 12 Sabah Umno reps who backed Bung Moktar.
Only reps from GRS, Sabah Pakatan Harapan, friendly parties, namely Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah, PAS and five Sabah Umno assemblymen who still supported Hajiji as Chief Minister were present at the sitting.
Bung Moktar and 12 other Barisan assemblymen; Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and 18 party assemblymen; as well as Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) president Datuk Peter Anthony and two assemblymen, did not turn up.
Bung Moktar said that Sabah Barisan supported the two Bills but was unable to attend as most of his assemblymen were on their way to Kuala Lumpur to attend the Umno general assembly.
Shafie, meanwhile, said his party also supported both Bills but Warisan assemblymen were not attending the sitting because there was a need for the government to form a special committee to decide on the unity government as proposed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
However, Sabah Community Development and People's Welfare Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya (Tanjung Keramat rep) – one of the five Umno members who backed Hajiji – remained in the state Cabinet bloc.
The same applied to state assistant ministers Datuk James Ratib (Sugut), Datuk Jasnih Daya (Pantai Dalit) as well as Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob (Sindumin) and Datuk Arsad Bistari (Tempasuk).
Seven Sabah Pakatan assemblymen, who previously were seated with the Opposition bloc, have been moved to the backbenchers section.
In a press conference, state Speaker Datuk Kadzim M Yahya did not explicitly state why Bung and his two other Sabah Barisan ministers were moved to the Opposition bench.
"If there is a new state Cabinet and there are new appointments, they will be moved to the left side (Opposition bloc).
"Let's wait and see if there is a Cabinet reshuffle. If there is, we will do so accordingly," he said.
When pressed that the seating had already changed, Kadzim said this was done in light of the number of absences.
"We don't want to see empty spaces, do we?" he said.
When asked if this was only temporary he said: "This will be subject to any Cabinet reshuffle that could affect their positions. That's all I can say.
"Cabinet appointments are the prerogative of the Chief Minister, not the Speaker," he added.
Hajiji had announced on Friday (Jan 6) that there would be a Cabinet reshuffle following speculation that Sabah Barisan and Warisan were attempting to unseat his GRS government.
On the low turnout, Kadzim it was the lowest since he was appointed state Speaker two years ago.
He added that while Usukan assemblyman Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak had applied for a leave of absence, all other assemblymen who did not turn up did not submit any such application.
On Bung and Shafie's reasons for being absent for the sitting, he said: "they may have their reasons but they have been recorded as absent.
"You must have the permission of the Speaker if not attending (a state assembly sitting)," Kadzim said.
