The Daily Express
Saturday, 29th March 2008
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders will be presenting their views and feelings on the current political situation in the State to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi during his visit to Sabah.
Among the issues the State assemblymen/women, members of Parliament and BN leaders will raise will be Sabah's representation in the Federal Cabinet.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said the Prime Minister had informed him during Umno Supreme Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday that he (Abdullah) will be coming to Sabah soon.
Speaking after attending Kolej Yayasan Sabah 13th Convocation at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort here, Friday, Musa, who is also Sabah BN chairman said: "He (Abdullah) will be meeting with all BN leaders including assemblymen and MPs to listen to their views and feelings about the current political situation in Sabah."
Musa also said that while it is the PM's prerogative to appoint the number of Ministers and Deputy Ministers from the BN component party members, Sabah had initially harboured high hope for more posts in the Federal Cabinet.
However, what the State get was only a raw deal with the post of three Ministers being retained and Deputy Ministers raised from two to four while Sarawak, the posts of two Ministers were retained and the number of Deputy Ministers increased from four to seven.
Musa stressed that Sabah attained a huge victory during the parliamentary election in the March 8 general elections by winning 24 of the 25 seats it had contested.
However, Sabah is now left with only two Deputy Ministers when Kimanis MP Datuk Anifah Aman rejected the post of Transport Deputy Minister and Kalabakan MP Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh quitting as Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment for personal reasons.
"We will discuss this issue with the PM. I believe they (Anifah and Ghapur) will be replaced by our (pool of Umno) MPs who do not have position in the Government."
"But we had really hoped for additional Minister posts (to be given to Sabah MPs)," he said.
Musa said the State would request the two Deputy Minister's posts to be given to Sabah Umno since the quota is exclusively for Sabah Umno MPs.
Several State BN leaders including MPs and Assemblymen have openly articulated the people's desire to have more Sabah representation in the Federal Cabinet.
This being as a gratitude to the State after winning 24 of the 25 parliamentary seat it had contested in the recent elections.
Anifah who was offered the post of Transport Deputy Minister rejected it on grounds that he wants to make way for a younger person.
Ghapur on Wednesday quit his post giving the excuse that he did not want to be tied down with official duties as a government officer.
Sabah Umno assistant secretary Datuk Masidi Manjun did not mince his words when he said that Sabah had been dubbed Barisan's fixed deposit (bastion).
"At the moment, we feel that we are not getting enough interest from our fixed deposit."
"If the interest is not good, people will put it elsewhere," he said adding that many people in the State were disappointed with the current representation.
Masidi also said that many also felt that less significant posts were given to Sabah.
Meanwhile, Musa said that Keadilan's de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had not met with any of the Sabah 24 BN's Mps.
He expressed belief that all the leaders including Assemblymen and MPs have high integrity and believed that "that they will be faithful to the leadership of the BN."
Among the issues the State assemblymen/women, members of Parliament and BN leaders will raise will be Sabah's representation in the Federal Cabinet.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said the Prime Minister had informed him during Umno Supreme Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday that he (Abdullah) will be coming to Sabah soon.
Speaking after attending Kolej Yayasan Sabah 13th Convocation at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort here, Friday, Musa, who is also Sabah BN chairman said: "He (Abdullah) will be meeting with all BN leaders including assemblymen and MPs to listen to their views and feelings about the current political situation in Sabah."
Musa also said that while it is the PM's prerogative to appoint the number of Ministers and Deputy Ministers from the BN component party members, Sabah had initially harboured high hope for more posts in the Federal Cabinet.
However, what the State get was only a raw deal with the post of three Ministers being retained and Deputy Ministers raised from two to four while Sarawak, the posts of two Ministers were retained and the number of Deputy Ministers increased from four to seven.
Musa stressed that Sabah attained a huge victory during the parliamentary election in the March 8 general elections by winning 24 of the 25 seats it had contested.
However, Sabah is now left with only two Deputy Ministers when Kimanis MP Datuk Anifah Aman rejected the post of Transport Deputy Minister and Kalabakan MP Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh quitting as Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment for personal reasons.
"We will discuss this issue with the PM. I believe they (Anifah and Ghapur) will be replaced by our (pool of Umno) MPs who do not have position in the Government."
"But we had really hoped for additional Minister posts (to be given to Sabah MPs)," he said.
Musa said the State would request the two Deputy Minister's posts to be given to Sabah Umno since the quota is exclusively for Sabah Umno MPs.
Several State BN leaders including MPs and Assemblymen have openly articulated the people's desire to have more Sabah representation in the Federal Cabinet.
This being as a gratitude to the State after winning 24 of the 25 parliamentary seat it had contested in the recent elections.
Anifah who was offered the post of Transport Deputy Minister rejected it on grounds that he wants to make way for a younger person.
Ghapur on Wednesday quit his post giving the excuse that he did not want to be tied down with official duties as a government officer.
Sabah Umno assistant secretary Datuk Masidi Manjun did not mince his words when he said that Sabah had been dubbed Barisan's fixed deposit (bastion).
"At the moment, we feel that we are not getting enough interest from our fixed deposit."
"If the interest is not good, people will put it elsewhere," he said adding that many people in the State were disappointed with the current representation.
Masidi also said that many also felt that less significant posts were given to Sabah.
Meanwhile, Musa said that Keadilan's de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had not met with any of the Sabah 24 BN's Mps.
He expressed belief that all the leaders including Assemblymen and MPs have high integrity and believed that "that they will be faithful to the leadership of the BN."
0 comments:
Post a Comment