HAJIJI Noor has lost his legitimacy as chief minister as he was among the Sabah Bersatu leaders to have left the party last month, Parti Warisan Sabah president Shafie Apdal said.

He said Bersatu and Perikatan Nasional (PN) no longer commanded a majority in the state assembly.

“Nobody knows whether he will now command the confidence of the majority. The legislative assembly has the right to choose another elected representative be the chief minister by presenting their choice to the Tuan Yang Terutama Negeri Sabah at any time,” Shafie was quoted as saying in reports.

The Warisan chief said the state constitution holds that the leader of a political party that commands the majority in the house should be the chief minister.

“We follow the law. This is the constitution. Hajiji is not a party leader, he has no party. He cannot be elected without a party. For the first time in our history we are being led by a non-party leader,” he said.

Earlier today, GRS secretary-general Masidi Manjun refuted the claim first made by Umno that Hajiji had lost his legitimacy to continue as chief minister.

He said Hajiji was constitutionally and legitimately sworn in as chief minister by the Sabah governor.

Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin last night said Hajiji is no longer qualified to hold the post of chief minister under article 6(3) and 6(7) of the Sabah constitution.

“According to the Sabah constitution, the chief minister must be chosen from a party with the majority. He (Hajiji) is without a party, he is with GRS, which is a grand coalition party,” he told media.

Masidi refuted this, saying no single political party had won more than 50% of the 73 seats.

“Therefore, going by the High Court and Court of Appeal’s interpretation of article 6(7) of the state constitution, the Tuan Yang Terutama (TYT) observed that no single political party had won more than 50% of the state seats and thus correctly disregarded the article as inapplicable.”

Masidi said a “majority” for the purposes of article 6(7) meant more than 50% of the seats in the state assembly.

“The TYT then properly and correctly exercised his powers under article 6(3) and appointed Haji Hajiji Noor as the chief minister,” he said.

Masidi did not dismiss the possibility of the coalition working with Warisan post-departure from GRS.

“We can work with any party as long as they are sincere,” he said.

The Sabah assembly has 79 lawmakers, 73 of them elected and six appointed.

With BN’s withdrawal of support, the Sabah government led by Hajiji now has the backing of 41 assemblymen, 29 of them in GRS, seven in Pakatan Harapan, three in Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat, one in Parti Harapan Rakyat Sabah and an Independent.

Warisan has 19 seats and PAS, one. – January 7, 2023.