Kota Kinabalu: Gabungan Rakyat Sabah’s (GRS) sole Chinese elected representative said it was acceptable that there were no Chinese representatives in the state Cabinet following the results of the polls which saw a complete swing towards Parti Warisan instead of DAP.
Tanjong Kapor Assemblyman Datuk Ben Chong Chen Bin, said he accepted the reality that there would be no Chinese Deputy Chief Minister post as promised by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor if GRS won.
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“After all, the Chinese do not deserve any ministerial positions as many Chinese voters prefer the opposition.
“If I take the Chinese quota for deputy chief minister or any ministerial post, the Kadazan, Dusun, Murut and Rungus voters, who contributed more to GRS’ win, will not be satisfied,” he was quoted as saying.
There are however, at least two Chinese representatives among the six nominated assemblymen.
Chong, who is Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (PGRS) Tanjong Kapor Division Chief, said that political stability is more important than holding a Cabinet minister’s position.
“It is meant for political stability. I am okay with it as long as GRS becomes a stronger and more stable government after Barisan Nasional joins.
“We want stable politics; that is the most crucial. Otherwise, we would have to keep changing the government or holding elections every two years, and that is not good,” he said.
Chong defended his seat for the third time in a competitive 11-cornered contest for the constituency in the recent polls with a narrow 359 majority after split votes between independent Datuk Verdon Bahanda and Warisan’s Terence Au.
Chong, who had previously won on a Parti Warisan ticket, had served as Sabah’s state assistant minister of trade and industry from 2018 to 2020.
Hajiji had in September promised the Chinese community that one of the three deputy chief ministers would be appointed from among Chinese elected representatives if they were re-elected.
Traditionally, the three deputy chief minister positions are allocated to leaders from the Chinese, Bumiputera Muslim and Bumiputera communities but this did not happen in the previous term either.
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