Mahathir to review pledge in Sabah
Mahathir to review pledge in Sabah
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday downplayed a political storm brewing in eastern Sabah state over an election pledge he made two years ago, and indicated he may backtrack.
Mahathir said his ruling National Front coalition was ready to review his promise to rotate the chief minister's post in the multi-racial state along ethnic lines, a concept now opposed by his own United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
UMNO, the country's largest political party, is the lynchpin of the National Front.
"If everybody agrees, we can change (the rotation system)," Mahathir told reporters, indicating he was ready to go back on his word if political parties in Sabah could reach a consensus on rejecting his proposal.
Mahathir said there was still time to solve the dispute.
"It is not a problem, it is a media problem.. it's not my problem," he added.
Mahathir had promised in 1994 during a fight to wrest the state from opposition control that the chief minister's post would be rotated according to ethnicity every two years.
Some 40 percent of the state's population are Christians of Kadazan origin, with another 40 percent Malay Moslem and the remaining ethnic Chinese.
But Sabah's UMNO, the backbone of the state's coalition government, threw out the rotation pledge a week ago, and passed a resolution that the post should remain with an UMNO leader.
Sabah Chief Minister and UMNO state leader Salleh Said Keruak later said he would leave it to Mahathir to settle the dispute.
Salleh, of Malay Moslem origin, would have to step down on March 17 if the rotating system is chosen.
Mahathir stressed that the National Front always fulfilled its promises but stopped short of assuring that the rotation pledge would be implemented.
"We need to analyze the meaning of the promise and after that, stick to our promise," he said.
Although the National Front coalition lost the March 1994 state elections to opposition Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) led by Joseph Pairin Kitingan, an ethnic Kadazan, it later gained control following massive defections from Kitingan's party.
PBS has asked for snap polls to solve the dispute, calling it the only "honorable" option, but both Mahathir and chief minister Salleh have rejected the option.