When Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad announced recently that the present Sabah Chief Minister Chong Kah Kiat would make way for a Sabah Umno elected representative to take over the helm of the state

leadership o­n March 27 this year, he ended more than just any speculation o­n the possibility of Chong staying o­n till the next state elections due in 2004.

Although it still means a continuity in the rotation system of the chief minister's post every two years, it does not necessary guarantee that things will not change or that the system will not be scrapped.

According to many political analysts in the state, there are ,of course,very good reasons why Sabah Barisan Nasional leaders would want it scrapped. Sabah Umno itself is probably the strongest advocate of that, even though their party president Mahathir was the o­ne who introduced it in the first place, as a way to find a temporary solution to the perennial problems of internal squabbling within the ruling coalition.

Sabah had lived with two chief ministers (Mustapha Datu Harun and Harris Salleh) who behaved more like dictators than leaders of a democratically-elected government. It was exactly because everyone thought that being chief minister would bring enormous personal benefit to leaders, and by introducing the rotation system, Mahathir has made sure that not a single leader in the state stays in the seat of power long enough to become dictatorial and corrupt .