PH emerge top winners
Pakatan Harapan emerged as the biggest winners as Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor strengthened his hold on his 27-month old Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government.Sabah Pakatan chairman Datuk Christina Liew, whose political fortunes were waning, made a comeback to the state Cabinet along with Sabah DAP secretary Phoong Jin Zhe as new ministers.
(The Star) – Liew, who lost her Tawau parliamentary seat in GE15 and was replaced as Sabah PKR chairman, was appointed Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister while Phoong was appointed Industrial Development Minister.
Both Liew and Phoong were Sabah Cabinet ministers in the Warisan-Pakatan state government from 2018 to 2020 before they were ousted by the combined political force of GRS-Barisan Nasional after the snap election in September 2020.
Sabah Pakatan, with its seven seats, allowed Hajiji to regain majority support in the 79-member assembly.
This came after Sabah Barisan, led by Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, pulled out from the previous GRS-Barisan state government on Jan 5.
However, five of the 18 Barisan-Umno assemblymen rebelled against Bung’s decision, aligning with Hajiji.
Two of them, Datuk Shahelmey Yahya (Tanjung Keramat) and Datuk James Ratib (Sugud), were rewarded with Cabinet positions.Shahelmey was made Deputy Chief Minister III and Works Minister, positions previously held by Bung.
Ratib was given the Community Development and People’s Well-being Ministry, held by Shahelmey before.
