MOHD Shafie Apdal has denied rumours that the lifting of the two-term limit for the head of state resulted from a private deal he struck with Yang di-Pertua Negeri Juhar Mahiruddin.

He said the move was not in return for Juhar’s willingness to appoint him over Musa Aman as Sabah chief minister following the May 9 general election.

“The truth is, Parti Warisan Sabah already had the majority on the night of May 10.

“There was no deal between me and Juhar. Juhar had called all the assemblymen and interviewed them one by one… (he) asked Ewon Benedick (Upko-Kadamaian), Abidin Madingkir (Upko-Panginatan), and they all had thrown their support behind the Warisan-Pakatan Harapan alliance,” he told a special assembly sitting today.

Musa was sworn in as chief minister on May 10 after Barisan Nasional won 29 seats in the 60-seat Sabah Legislative Assembly. Shafie’s Warisan, together with two PH parties, had also won 29 seats.

However, Warisan got the majority following several BN defections, leading to party president Shafie being appointed as chief minister two days later.

Earlier today, the state assembly lifted the two-term limit for the post of head of state after debating the state government’s bid to amend the Sabah constitution for more than two hours.

Article 2, Clause 3 of the state constitution stipulates that “a person shall not hold office as the Yang di-Pertua Negeri for more than two terms, continuously or otherwise”.

The clause was introduced by the then Parti Bersatu Sabah government in 1983.

Sources earlier this week told The Malaysian Insight that an extension of the current head of state’s tenure will help Shafie strengthen his grip on the state, amid talk of Warisan members defecting to the opposition.

Following today’s move, Sabah will revert to the original title of “Yang di-Pertua Negara” under the Malaysia Agreement 1963, which does not state a term limit for the post. – December 13, 2018.