by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Siang, in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday, February 22, 1994:
Federal Government’s proposal to challenge the legality of the appointment of six nominated Assemblymen in Sabah is the third Barisan Nasional attempt to topple the PBS State Government of Joseph Pairin in 72 hours
The Federal Government’s proposal to challenge the legality of the appointment of six nominated Assemblymen in Sabah is the third Barisan Kasional attempt to topple the PBS State Government of Joseph Pairin in 72 hours.
The first attempt to topple the PBS Government at the Sabah state general elections on Saturday was defeated when the result was 25 seats for PBS and 23 saats for Barisan Nasional despite the unprecedentedly massive and illegal use of money by the Barisan Nasional in the elections.
The second attempt was the 36-hour crisis and the camping of Joseph Pairin outside the Sabah Istana grounds, when Joseph Pairin could not be sworn in as Sabah Chief Minister. The explanation given by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr, Mahathir Mohamed in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday morning for the delay in the swsaring-in was that the Yang di Pertua Negeri could not determine who enjoys the confidence of the majority of the elected representatives” as ‘PBS Assemblymen had been -detained’.
It was reported in the press today that the Sabah UMNO chairman. Tan Sri Sankaran Dandai, was hoping until the last, minute for the crossover of PBS assemblymen to the Barisan Nasional to forestall the swearing-in of Joseph Pairin as Sabah Chief Minister yesterday morning.
It was Sankaran Dandai who had stated publicly that two groups of PBS state assemblymen had approached the Barisan Nasional and “expressed their intention of crossing over”.
It is significant; that it is only after this second attempt to topple the PBS Government failed when Joseph Pairin was sworn in yesterday morning that Sankaran Dandai gathered the 23 Barisan Nasional Assemblymen and flew them to Kuala Lumpur and not before!
The proposal to challenge the legality of the appoint¬ment of six nominated Assemblymen by Joseph Pairin after his swearing-in is therefore the third attempt by the Barisan Nasion¬al to topple the PBS Government of Joseph Pairin in 72 hours!
The separation of Labuan from Sabah and its crea¬tion, as a Federal Territory would, be unconstitu-tional and invalid if Hamid is right that the appointment of six nominated Assemblymen in Sabah is unconstitutional
Law Minister, Datuk Sysd Hamid Albar was the first to say that Article 14(1)(c) of the Sabah Constitution allowing the ruling party to appoint six nominated assemblymen could be challenged in court as it was not in line with the Federal Constution.
Syed Hamid said that under the Federal Constitution, any provision or law inconsistent with the Federal law would become void to the extent of the inconsistency.
Reacting to Hamid’s comments, Sankaran Dandai announced that the Sabah Barisan Nasional would challenge the validity of the appointment of the six nominated assemblymen in Sabah if it is found contrary to the Federal Constitution.
There are both the constitutional and political aspects of this third attempt by the Barisan Nasional to topple the PBS Government of Joseph Pairin.
Firstly, if the appointment of the six nominated Assemblymen under Article 14(1)(c) of the Sabah Constitution is illegal and unconstitutional, then all enactments, acts and measures taken not only by the PBS Government since it came to power in 1985 could be struck down as illegal and invalid, even the enactments, acts and measures of previous Sabah state govern¬ments could also become illegal as they had also used Article 14(1 )(c) of the Sabah Constitution.
This could mean that the separation of Labuan from Sabah and its creation as a Federal Territory could be declared null and void because it was illegal and unconstitutional.
It this the result the Barisan Nasional government wants to achieve?
Secondly, why is this provision wrong, illegal and undemocratic when used by the PBS State Government, but right, constitutional and democratic when used by the Barisan Nasional Sabah state governments previously?
Barisan Nasional must not have double standards on what is legal, constitutional and democratic depending on which party is in power in Sabah or it would be accused of being unprincipled and hypocritical.
There is nothing illegal and unconstitutional about Article 14(1 }{c) of the Sabah Constitution as the provision on six nominated State Assemblymen was drafted in the Sabah Constitution when Malaysia was formed in 1963. However, such a provision is undemocratic which is a different issue from whether it is constitutional and valid or not.
DAP had always been consistent on this issue, for we had previously called for the repeal of this provision. However, such a repeal must be made by the Sabah State Assembly, and not by the unilateral action of the two-thirds Parliamentary majority of Barisan Nasional or it would be another example of the denial of the democratic rights of the people of Sabah by Kuala Lumpur.