IT’S a shame there will not be a second deputy prime minister in Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s cabinet, said Sabah Pakatan Harapan chairman Christina Liew, who believed concerns about a rivalry could be the reason the post was not created for a Sabah or Sarawak representative.

She said the post was rightfully Sabah and Sarawak’s as the PH government recognises the East Malaysian states as equal partners that had formed Malaysia with the Federation of Malaya in 1963.

“I regret there will not be a DPM II post for Sabah and Sarawak although we (Sabah PH) have been pushing for it,” she said in Kota Kinabalu tonight.

“This was discussed when PH secretary-general Saifuddin Abdullah was in Kota Kinabalu on August 30 last year, but maybe when the matter was brought back to Kuala Lumpur, the other states in the peninsula were not in favour of it.”

Yesterday, Saifuddin announced that there would not be such a post as the new  government was looking to downsize the federal cabinet. 

Liew said Sabah PH will continue to lobby for the post to be created. – May 23, 2018.