All 43 assemblymen present voted for the motion tabled by deputy chief minister Christina Liew, who is also the Api-Api representative and state Pakatan Harapan chief.
They comprised 39 elected members and four nominated members. The assembly has 60 elected members while the Sabah constitution allows the governor to appoint not more than six nominated members.
The May 9 general election ended in a hung assembly with the Barisan Nasional (BN) and the Parti Warisan Sabah-led alliance both winning 29 seats. The remaining two seats went to Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) led by its president Jeffrey Kitingan.
STAR threw its support behind BN, giving them a majority 31 seats in the 60-member assembly, and state BN chairman Musa Aman was sworn in as chief minister.
However, subsequent defections from Umno and Upko swung the majority to the Warisan-led alliance, and Warisan president Shafie Apdal took the oath as chief minister.
Musa has challenged Shafie’s appointment in court.
Sabah Umno treasurer Hajiji Mohd Noor and Jeffrey yesterday said the assemblymen elected under the BN ticket and STAR would not attend the sitting which they claimed was illegal.
At the start of today’s sitting at 10.30am, the 35 representatives from Warisan and its partners DAP, PKR and Upko and the four nominated assemblymen were sworn in before speaker Syed Abbas Syed Ali.
The four nominated assemblymen were Upko acting president and Tuaran MP Wilfred Madius Tangau, DAP state chairman Stephen Wong, Warisan secretary-general Loretto Padua Jr and Warisan treasurer Terence Siambun.
Those from the opposition side who were not in attendance included Musa, who is the Sungai Sibuga assemblyman.
The 21 assemblymen who did not turn up comprised 11 from Umno, six from PBS, two from STAR and a sole representative each from Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS)and Upko.
In tabling her motion to support Shafie as the lawful chief minister, Liew said the Warisan president had gained a clear and strong mandate from the people in the May 9 polls.
“I believe Shafie is the right Sabah chief minister. He has 23 years’ experience as MP and nine years as a senior minister in the federal Cabinet. I am very confident he can be a CM that can build an excellent future for Sabah,” she said.
Liew, who is also the state tourism, culture and environment minister, said the special sitting was a legal sitting as the notice was issued by the Sabah head of state.
“Musa Aman and his backers do not even have the courage to make themselves present at this sitting which is the correct avenue to sort out this issue once and for all,” she said, adding that they should have come instead of issuing press releases and resorting to a highly publicised legal recourse.
She said the public had learned through the media that the Sabah governor had also lodged a police report over an alleged threat by Musa and, as such, he had sworn in Musa under duress.
“It must also be known that Musa vacated Seri Gaya (the chief minister’s official residence), his office at the state administrative building and the house at Yayasan Sabah,” Liew said.
She questioned why Musa had left these official premises if he believed that he was still the Sabah chief minister.
“If he believes in the democratic process he should be here instead of running away and issuing press statements from thousands of miles away. What kind of leader behaves in a cowardly manner?
“He should face the law unless he has become delusional and is unable to accept the reality due to his obsession with power.”
Meanwhile, Upko’s Kuamut assemblyman Masiung Banah, who spoke in support of the motion, wanted the motion to be reworded to recognise Upko’s sacrifice that enabled the formation of the Warisan-led government.
“As a member of the previous chief minister’s Cabinet, I believed we had the people’s mandate. Following the advice of my acting party president, Tangau, we left to support the (new) government, in the people’s interest and for political stability.
“This government would not have been formed if Upko did not make the sacrifice.
“People are saying we did not play a big role… that must be corrected or else Upko will be condemned and ridiculed,” Masiung said.
Kemabong assemblyman Jamawi Jaafar, one of the Umno members who defected to the new ruling alliance, said the action of the assemblymen who failed to turn up was an insult to the Sabah governor.
“They are also confusing the rakyat,” he said, in supporting Liew’s motion.
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