Sabah DCM abandons new party plan

Partyless Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Raymond Tan Shu Kiah has abandoned plans to form his own political party and seek membership in the ruling Barisan Nasional.

This follows objections from all BN components, except Umno, to the idea of yet another mosquito Chinese party in the nine-member state coalition.

Instead, Tan will now actively seek membership in a “friendly” BN party. His options are limited since “almost nobody loves Raymond”.

It appears that only Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman’s continued support for him so far has kept his political hopes alive.

“I am leaving all (other) options. As you can see, under the present situation, it is pointless to form a new party as the same people ... LDP, Sabah MCA, Sapp and Sabah DAP ... would object.

“They are the same leaders who have been saying that I have not been doing anything,” cried Tan, abandoning his characteristic silence and policy of avoiding the press.

“I do not think that any of these leaders, who are unfriendly to me, would like me to join them either.”

If Tan has ruled out the prospects of joining either the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) or the Sabah MCA, it is with good reasons too. Both parties have demanded his ouster from the state cabinet and government posts.

Sabah MCA has also demanded the DCM’s post held by Tan. He is also Minister for Infrastructure Development.

Tan has kept everyone guessing on his political future after he quit Sapp in the wake of its Sept 17 pullout from the BN, citing loss of confidence in the federal leadership and especially the then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Leaves his fate in the hands of Musa

Tan had finally indicated that he would go no further than Dec 31 last year in deciding on his political direction and begged for patience.

He had earlier set several other earlier deadlines for himself, none which of which panned out.

Tan has no plans to resign from the state cabinet and the government, however, and leaves his fate in the hands of Musa. This has placed the chief minister in an increasingly difficult spot.

“It is not a question of leaving it to the CM’s prerogative powers. It is within the CM’s prerogative powers to decide on my position in the state cabinet,” pointed out Tan.

“Why at this particular time is there such a challenge? If it were to come from the opposition, I can understand. They challenge everything. But not when the challenge comes from component parties in the BN.

“People may have forgotten what transpired after Sept 17 last year. I stayed back with the BN. I am disappointed and hurt with what is being said by some of my colleagues in the coalition. It is a mystery to me why they are concentrating on my government positions.”

Tan disclosed that he has met with MCA president Ong Tee Keat on his party’s stand on his position in the state cabinet and government.

Apparently, Ong ( right ) sympathised with him, even going so far as to advise him “on certain matters”, added Tan.

“You can ask him what he has advised me. The Sabah MCA views are different from his.”

Tan, without naming anyone specific, claimed that he has been advised by many leaders that there were others elsewhere in a similar predicament as his without running into the same kind of flak.

'Not actually without a party'

He reiterated that he was not actually partyless, although his party (Sapp) pulled out from the BN, since he still remained with the BN. He feels that what is important now is to address his “political position” although he is “not actually without a party”.

“When you stand as a candidate in an election, you represent the BN and not any other party. When you want to form the government, BN is the party,” said a misty-eyed Tan.

“But a lot of the component parties within BN have said that I have no party. Again, this is a mystery and I cannot understand the position taken by these leaders. All I can see is that they are not talking about BN. They are much more concerned about positions in the government.”

Tan also disclosed that he has also recently met with Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Musa separately and also touched on his purported meeting with Gerakan president Dr Koh Tsu Koon.

He declined to go into details of these meetings except for saying that “Musa strongly stressed that he would be taking the views of BN component party leaders into consideration before making a decision (on Tan’s position).”

That seems to be the clearest signal to Tan that he should park himself at one of the BN component parties soon if he wants to stay on in the state cabinet and the government.

Some of Tan’s friends are even privately urging him to join the state Umno which has a small number of non-bumiputera members.

Upko and PBS prepared to consider Tan

Tan also raised the issue of Koh being also a close friend of Sapp president Yong Teck Lee “and not just my friend”.

“It would be better if you ask him (Koh) whether I am joining Gerakan in Sabah,” said Tan. Koh had been widely speculated to announce earlier this week in Kuala Lumpur that Tan would be joining Gerakan.

Both Upko (United Pasok Momogun Kadazan Dusun Murut Oganisation) president Bernard Giluk Dompok and PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) president Joseph Pairin Kitingan have said they would be willing to consider accepting Tan as a member.

Other PBS leaders have also openly urged Tan to “return to the party”.

However, there is no guarantee that he would be allowed to keep his state cabinet post or other government responsibilities, or even whether he would be picked to stand in his Tanjung Papat seat in the next general elections.

Musa has already been quoted as saying in the local papers that he will seek the views of all component party leaders before taking a final decision on Tan’s position in the state cabinet and government.

It is understood that LDP president VK Liew had a one-to-one meeting with Musa at Sri Gaya, the chief minister’s official residence, yesterday evening. It is not known what was discussed.

Meanwhile, LDP publicity chief Albert Kok thinks the issue of Tan should be discussed by the state BN at an official meeting of all component party presidents, deputy presidents and the secretary-general.

'LDP not following official channels'

This follows accusations by several Umno leaders that “LDP was not following official channels when raising the issue of Raymond Tan and other issues and was in fact embarrassing the coalition”.

“Anyway, it’s about time that the state BN met,” said Kok. “The last meeting was held about four years ago. We had minutes taken just like in KL when the BN meets. Besides Tan, there are also other pressing economic and political issues to discuss.”

He conceded that although BN component party leaders meet informally, it is not enough because such meetings are not minuted and besides, “often they are held one-to-one”.

Kok added that he would be discussing with his party leaders on the possibility of writing officially to state BN secretary Karim Bujang “and requesting that the state BN convene a meeting of all component parties as soon as possible”.

“Ideally, we should meet every two or three months and definitely before and after the BN meets in KL,” said Kok. “If no meeting is called, any BN component party can request that a meeting be called.”

LDP should do 'what is right'

Ex-LDP president and former Sabah chief minister Chong Kah Kiat, in a separate statement, meanwhile urged the party to “remain courageous and do what is right in the interest of the community”.

Chong has been more in the news recently for his court battles with the state government over the aborted building of a statue to the Goddess of the Sea (Mazu) in Kudat.

The issue of Tan’s “long overdue resignation” flared up anew in recent days after LDP’s deputy president Chin Su Phin publicly called on Tan and suspended Umno leader Japlin Akim, an assistant state minister, to resign from the state cabinet.

Chin, while conceding that the Sabah chief minister has prerogative powers to decide on the composition and make-up of the state cabinet and government, said that “he must take into account the feelings of the people when he makes decisions on any matter”.

This goes as well for the decision to retain Tan in the state cabinet beyond a reasonable period of time, added Chin. “The candidate for Tan’s post should come from one of the BN component parties.”

He denied that LDP would press for Tan’s post and noted that the Chinese DCM can also come from PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) or MCA, the latter a suggestion which has come under public fire in the past after it was raised by the party itself.