Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) deputy president Chin Su Phin wants Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to step in and reshuffle the state cabinet in Sabah.

According to him, the prime minister should act firmly against leaders who have been implicated in corrupt practices or to those who were found incompetent in discharging their responsibilities.

In this regard, he urged Najib to exercise his power and act firmly in strengthening all BN-led state governments, including Sabah.

“Certain state cabinets in the country need to be reshuffled, including Sabah, where an assemblyman (Raymond Tan) who is no longer in BN, but still holding a full minister post; while another assemblyman (Japlin Akim) being found involved in money politics and has had his party (Umno) membership suspended for three years and yet still holding an assistant minister post," he pointed out.

Chin regretted that Chief Minister Musa Aman had failed to take into account the feelings of other BN component parties in Sabah in allowing both Tan and Japlin to continue their posts in the state cabinet.

"As such, I urge Najib to take a drastic action. As we all know, during Dr Mahathir Mohamad's tenure as prime minister, there were chief ministers, mentri besars who were replaced by other leaders and we hope that Najib will also take similar measures.

"We fully agree and support Najib's recent statement that BN must changed, otherwise we would be changed by the people, and this theory applies to Sabah," said Chin, adding that there are many capable leaders from the Sabah BN components, including Umno, in leading the state.

While noting that BN won big in Sabah in the last general election, he nonetheless warned that the voting trend had shown that the numbers of votes obtained by the opposition had increased.

"In view of this, Sabah BN must not underestimate the opposition. From the outcome of the general elections, we can see there are still people who are dissatisfied with BN government policies and that is why a change must be made in the state cabinet,” he stressed.

“LDP is very disappointed that Tan is still being retained in the state cabinet although the latter is now an independent assemblyman,” he lamented.

DCM who is an independent rep

According to him, whether Tan decides to form a new political party or join any of the existing BN component parties, he should first quit from the state cabinet as proof that he is not greedy for power.

“He (Tan) should not blame anybody else if he loses his cabinet post ... he should blame himself and Sapp (Sabah Progressive Party) because his post was a quota given to the Sapp then," said Chin.

Sapp pulled out from the BN coalition last year but Tan, who was the party’s deputy president, opted to become an independent assemblyperson.

Chin added that there are many capable Chinese leaders from LDP, MCA and even PBS to take over Tan's deputy chief minister post.

He reiterated that even though it is the prerogative of the chief minister to decide on the matter, he should consider the feeling of other BN component parties who hold the same view that the BN-led Sabah state government can not have a deputy chief minister who is an independent assemblyman.

"The LDP will meet the prime minister as soon as possible to discuss on the current political situation in Sabah. We believe that the PM is aware of the situation here and will listen to suggestions from component members," Chin added.