SABAH Progressive Party president Yong Teck Lee wants the political parties taking part in the state elections to pledge to restore Article 2(3) of the state constitution to limit the service of the Yang Dipertua Negeri to two terms.

The article, passed in 1987 by the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) government, stated: “A person shall not hold office as the Yang Dipertua Negeri for more than two terms either continuously or otherwise.”

The article was abolished in 2018.

Yong said the reason for the article is obvious: it is so that the chief minister of the day does not have to put up with a governor who expects or wishes to be reappointed beyond two terms.

“Each term is four years,” he said in a statement today.

“It does not matter who is the chief minister or who the TYT; it is the office of the TYT that we must protect,” he said, referring to the governor by the abbreviated Tuan Yang Terutama.

“It was not in the Parti Warisan Sabah or Pakatan Harapan or BN or Gabungan Sabah or any other party election manifesto that the two-term limit on the TYT post will be removed. Why then was the term limit removed?” – Bernama, July 31, 2020.