KOTA KINABALU, March 22 ― The state government will bring a motion to limit the terms of the Chief Minister of up to two terms only to the State Assembly, if the elected representatives were in support of it.
Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor said that the state Cabinet had agreed to capping the number of terms in principle and was ready to bring it up to be tabled in the next sitting.
“Actually, the state Cabinet had approved the proposal at its principle and if all the elected representatives here are in agreement, we will bring it up at the next sitting to amend the State Constitution,” he said during the question and answer session during the sitting here today.
“This is actually a good proposal that is being considered at the federal level for the Prime Minister post. Developed western countries like the United States and others also limit the terms of the sitting President and Prime Minister,” he said.
He reiterated that if all elected representatives were in agreement, they would raise the matter in the next sitting.
Hajiji’s reply was read by Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's department Datuk Abidin Madingkir in reply to a question by Kadamaian state assemblyman Datuk Ewon Benedick on whether the state government has any plans to amend the Sabah Constitution to limit the Chief Minister's appointment to two terms.
In the past, the state had a rotation system for the chief minister post under the Barisan Nasional government so the Muslim, non-Muslim Bumiputera, and Chinese community could take turns having their leader helm the state for two years each.
The system was introduced in 1994 under then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and was later scrapped by his successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2004 at the behest of all the Sabahan component parties.
The then chief minister, Tan Sri Musa Aman who had another one year tenure under the system, continued as the state’s chief executive officer for 15 years by virtue of his position as head of Sabah Umno, and became the longest serving chief minister.
He left following the 2018 state election, in a constitutional wrought sequence of events which saw both him and political arch rival Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal being sworn in as chief minister by the Head of State.
