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.