by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjong, Lim Kit Siang, in Malacca on Sunday. 13th March 1994:
Pairin has no choice but to dissolve the Sabah State Assembly 21 dats after the state general elections because of rampant money politics which have perverted the will of the people
Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan has no choice but to dissolve the Sabah State Assembly 21 days after the state general elections because of rampant money politics which have perverted the will of the people.
The defection of three PBS State Assemblymen – two elected and one nominated – to Barisan Nasional yesterday, and. the announcement that there would be two more defections, probably by today, to remove the simple majority of PBS and- overthrow the PBS State Government of Pairin has nothing to do with the mandate of the Sabah voters three weeks ago.
Such defections are the result of immoral and unethical horse-trading in the political market-place, where the loyalties of Sabah State Assemblymen are bought and sold as if they are commodities!
After the defection of the three PBS State Assemblymen, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Lajim Haji Okin (Klias), Assistant Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Rubin Balang (Kemabong) and nominated Assemblyman Datuk Haji Zaini Isa to Barisan Nasional, yesterday, the majority of the Pairin PBS State Government had been reduced, from 31-23 to 28-26.
If there is another two defections, then Pairin would have lost his majority hold on the State Assembly, as PBS would have 26 seats as compared to Barisan Nasional’s 28, and Pairin would be unseated as Sabah Chief Minister.
The engineering of defection of PBS Assemblymen to Barisan Nasional is not the triumph of people’s power but the victory of the power of money poli¬tics
Such a change of government would not be the result of the democratic verdict of Sabahans at the polls, but as the result of the undemocratic political machinations and manipulations, of political leaders to overturn the verdict of the people as expressed in the ballot box only three weeks ago.
In other words, the toppling of Pairin as Sabah Chief Minister and the PBS State Government by the engineering of defections of PBS Assemblymen to Barisan Nasional is not the triumph of people’s power but the victory of the power of money Politics!
Such a political development will taring further shame and dishonour to Malaysia, which wants to gain the respect of the world as a country where democracy is not only a meaningful process, but where values of honesty, morality and integrity are held in high esteem by all Malaysians including political leaders whether in government or in opposition.
I have no doubt that if Pairin had not dissolved the Sabah State Assembly by today, he would have no chance to do so, when there are two more defections of PBS Assemblymen to Barisan Nasional. This is because the Sabah Yang di Pert.ua would then have refused to accede to the request by Pairin to dissolve the Sabah State Assembly on the ground that the Sabah Barisan Nasion¬al has the confidence of the majority of Sabah State Assemblymen to form the State Government.
In the circumstances, it is only right that the voters of Sabah should be asked to decide once more whether they want to give a firm mandate for the continuation of the PBS Government in Sabah, or whether they want the PBS Government to be toppled and replaced by the Barisan Nasional.
Such a decision should be made by the voters of Sabah at the ballot box, and not made by a few Assemblymen who are prepared to defect from the PBS to the Barisan Nasional at the right price.
The issue in the second round of Sabah state general elections will be a straightforward one whether the people of Sabah wants another term of PBS State Government or whether they want a Barisan Nasional State Government whether they want Joseph Pairin Kitingan to continue as Sabah Chief Minister, or whether they want Sankaran Dandai to be the new Sabah Chief Minister.