PETALING JAYA: Parti Kesejahteraan Demokratik Masyarakat (KDM) has called for Hajiji Noor to step down as the chief minister, hours after Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) withdrew their support for the latter.
KDM president Peter Anthony said Hajiji, who is also the Sulaman assemblyman, no longer commanded the support of the majority in the state legislative assembly.
“According to the state constitution, Hajiji must resign immediately,” he said in a brief statement.
Last night, Sabah BN and Umno retracted their support for Hajiji on the grounds he violated a pact with BN, Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) after the state elections in September 2020.
This included appointing BN representatives to the Sabah Cabinet and to top posts in government-owned companies.
State BN chairman Bung Moktar Radin said the BN-Umno decision left Hajiji without a majority in the state assembly and he “is no longer fit to be the chief minister”.
Hajiji’s government had relied on the support of 53 assembly members from Hajiji’s Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (29 seats), BN (17 seats) and Pakatan Harapan (7) and could also count on 6 members from minor parties as allies. Warisan (19 seats) forms the state opposition.
A simple majority of 40 seats in the 79-member state assembly is needed to form a new government.
However, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) secretary-general Masidi Manjun insists that the coalition continues to hold the majority as six Sabah Umno representatives did not agree with Bung’s decision to withdraw support for Hajiji.
Masidi did not name the six representatives.
