Sabah's Musa Aman appears to have succeeded in securing his position as state Barisan Nasional chairperson and chief minister after leaders of various component parties in the state publicly gave their backing to his decision over a relatively minor issue.

In what looked initially like a leader being cornered over his heavily-criticised decision to appoint a retired senior police officer Elias Omar, said to be a relative, as the new mayor of Kota Kinabalu, Musa took the calculated risk to demand for public statement of support for his leadership from leaders of BN component parties.

This came amid increasing murmurings of dissatisfaction in his handling of various state matters both within Umno, his party, and the state BN. But he managed to lure the BN component party leaders one by one to declare their support for his leadership.

Ironically, the first to come out with a public statement of support was the Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) leader Yong Teck Lee, a former chief minister and a critic of some of Musa's policies. Yong has largely been ignored, after he was legally disqualified for holding elected office because of election offences.

Surprisingly, the last to come out to pledge the same support was Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) leader Joseph Pairin Kitingan, a former chief minister and now one of the three deputy chief ministers who is said to have a close working relationship with Musa.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader Chong Kah Kiat, another former chief minister and now a deputy chief minister also stepped to come forward to pledge support. Chong, like Pairin too, is seen as enjoying a close working relationship with the chief minister. But as leader of a small Chinese-based party, he has less to complain than Pairin about what's due to the party has not been forthcoming.

No due share for PBS

"It seems Pairin preferred to wait for the others before making his public statement," a seasoned political observer in Kota Kinabalu said.

There were talks that lately Pairin, who heads the largest Kadazandusun-Murut-based party in Sabah, has not been very happy with Musa's leadership, according to former Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah head Saidatul Badru, sister of a Sabah Umno leader Salleh Keruak, who is also a former chief minister.

Pairin has told associates that when former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad asked him to bring PBS back to the BN fold, he (Mahathir) also told him that he (Pairin) was the only Sabah leader who could unite Sabahans, especially the Kadazandusuns-Muruts.

"Something is going on in Sabah that indicates all is not well in Sabah Umno under Musa," she told malaysiakini . Saidatul, whose father is a former Sabah head of state, is now a national PKR vice- president.

Critics and detractors have accused Musa of "giving in too much to pra-pra people" (half Pakistanis, a reference to Musa's background) in appointments to key positions in state agencies.

Even PBS deputy president Dr Maximus Ongkili, a federal minister, is said to have mentioned to some local journalists that PBS has not been given its due share of such appointments since the party rejoined the BN three years ago.

Most observers , however, agree that as long as he has the backing of Umno president and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Musa's position as state BN chairperson and chief minister is secure.

Silenced temporarily

The state's two-year rotation system for the chief minister's post practised by the state BN that Mahathir introduced to bring peace to Sabah politics may be over, but there are some among Musa's estranged Umno leaders, including Salleh Keruak and Ghafur Salleh, another former deputy chief minister, who feel the post, as long as it remains with Umno, should be rotated from within.

This is not to say that Salleh has a chance because Musa only agreed to field him as a parliamentary candidate for the Kota Belud constituency, effectively preventing him from making a return to the state cabinet. He is keeping a low profile now.

According to those close to Musa, the chief minister has no intention of giving up his post in the foreseeable future. The recent move demanding that leaders of component parties declare their support for him appeared to have paid off.

At least, his critics seemed to have been temporarily silenced. But others say the move might turn to be an exercise in overkill politically.

Besides the criticism over Musa's decision to appoint Elias Omar as mayor of Kota Kinabalu, the chief minister was also under fire over the sources of funding for the RM40 million state Umno new building now under construction near the KK police station.

Said one of his supporters: "As far as I know up to now, it remains only an allegation which is not backed up in any way by concrete evidence."

"For now, he seems to be in a strong and secure position, especially when it is said that Abdullah is behind him," he added.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini 's Sarawak-based stringer.