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IN my article last week on Datuk Mohd Fauzi Patel’s book ‘What Sabahans Should Know’, I mentioned that the late Datuk Kadoh Agundong and the late Datuk Malek Chua were Information Department’s Field Officers (FO) in the earlier days of their career. In other words, my colleagues, although by the time I joined Malek had left.

Kadoh went on to become Local Government & Housing Minister after the 1985 election. In fact, he also won the Tenom parliamentary by-election the following year. The by-election was caused by the resignation of the incumbent MP, former CM Tan Sri Harris Salleh. 

Thus, Kadoh became both an Assemblyman and a MP by 1986. Other PBS Ministers who were both Assemblyman and MP then were party president & CM Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan, and Finance Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok. I hope I did not miss out any body. Age is catching up with me.

Talking about age and memory loss, last week I did forget that former Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Jahid Jahim was also a FO. He was slightly my junior. I joined in 1973. I think he joined the following year after finishing secondary school just like me. 

That was still Alliance/Usno government. I think by the time Berjaya defeated Usno in 1976, Jahid left for higher studies in UKM in KL. 

Jahid is an honest man and his leadership qualities could be seen even during his FO days. I was told that in one of his trips to the kampung for free film show (Wayang Free) his senior officer suggested that they claim overnight stay allowance. Those days, if the kampung is in another district outside KK and you stay overnight, you can claim. Each new FO is accompanied and guided by a senior one for at least a few months.

Jahid refused for he did not sleep there. Surprised by his honesty and integrity, his senior also dared not claim in case Jahid reported him. Not me for otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this.

Salute brother. By the way, Jahid also married someone from my hometown – Datin Mariana Ugau (I think Datuk now), sister of Datin Malim Ugau (widow of the late Datuk Wahid Norbinsha) whom I mentioned last week. Both were our singers when I was a band boy in the late 60s and early 70s. We used to do recordings in Radio Sabah.

Anyway, to cut the long story short, upon his graduation from university, Jahid was placed in the State Development Office as an officer. Those days the State Development Officer was always a federal officer. The State Operations Room was housed at the old Secretariat building. Now that office is a full-fledged federal department housed in the Mini Putrajaya complex. I think as Minister for Sabah & Sarawak Affairs, Datuk Mustapha Sakmud has control over it although the director also has to respect the CM, of course.

The Tuaran District Officer at the time of Berjaya’s defeat was Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun if I remember correctly. Masidi the lawyer-turned administrator was later transferred on promotion as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sports.

Jahid was posted to Tuaran as DO. PBS president and CM Pairin must have noticed him and liked him because in the 1990 State election he was asked to resign and contest in Sulaman (essentially Tuaran). That started Jahid’s political career, whether by design or default I don’t know.

By the way, before the election Jahid, just like Masidi, was transferred on promotion as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sports. Masidi has resigned and Jahid replaced him, I think. 

Although Jahid is actually from Kiulu under the sub-district of Tamparuli, he was asked to stand in Sulaman due to a couple of reasons. You see, Sulaman has sizeable number of Muslims and Dusun voters. Jahid is a Dusun Muslim so no problem arose there. Although he is not from Tuaran, he was the Tuaran DO and he was popular so that even the Chinese liked him. He is soft-spoken by nature, friendly and humble and always smiling. If you can make him angry, then I don’t know what kind of human being you are.

Did Pairin make the right choice by naming him candidate? The answer is yes arguably because he lost by only a few hundred votes to the Usno candidate. Sulaman has always been an Usno country since the first direct election of 1967. Except for a short period in the late 80s caused by a by-election when PBS won. The PBS candidate who won was the late Jasni Gindug who just like Jahid was a Dusun Muslim from Tamparuli.

Usno got back Sulaman in 1990 when Jahid was defeated narrowly. And who was the Usno candidate who beat Jahid by 281 votes? Why, it was Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Hj Noor who got 3,575 votes against Jahid’s 3,294. It was a debut election for both Jahid and Hajiji. The latter was a Customs Officer in Tawau and was asked by Usno President Tun Mustapha to resign and contest.

The result was so close that by Hajiji’s own admission, he expected to lose and was at home sleeping when he was woken by a phone call saying that he had won. That started his political career. Just like Jahid, whether by design or default, be that as it may.

The good news for Hajiji was he won. But the bad news was his party Usno lost. This means that he was now an Opposition Assemblyman. But not for long. I leave that to another article another day.

After the 1994 election which PBS won very narrowly, Jahid was appointed a Nominated State Assemblyman. The PBS government collapsed a couple of months later and the rest is history. BN/Umno took over and Tun Sakaran became CM.

But Jahid’s position as Nominated YB was not affected. Just like the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, they are appointed by the Governor for one term and normally not touched even if there is a change government. They normally allow you to finish your term. 

An example is when PN/Bersatu replaced Warisan as the government, the two Warisan appointees as Deputy Speaker were allowed to finish their term. Speaker different story lah because otherwise….

Another example is the current Deputy Speaker Datuk Richard Yong of SAPP. His party left the GRS coalition just before the election and is now not only in the Opposition but without a single Assemblyman, whether Elected or Appointed. Another former SAPP Deputy Speaker Datuk Franckie Chong was also allowed to remain after his party left BN last time. I stand to be corrected.

Coming back to Jahid, after BN took over, they had a two-year rotation system for the CM post. When it was to be the KDM’s turn sometime late 1990s, the possible candidates were Upko’s Bernard Dompok and PBRS’ Joseph Kurup and Akar’s (I think) Dr Jeffrey Kitingan. I may be wrong somewhere.

At one point, Jeffrey looked set to be the first KDM CM under BN. So quite a few KDM Assemblymen (all formerly of PBS) threw their weight behind Jeffrey, expecting him to be the new CM. The few included Jahid, I think. I may be mistaken, especially the sequence.

But PM Dr M chose Dompok who just kept quiet and didn’t lobby. Akar was later dissolved and their members joined Umno almost en bloc. 

That was when Jahid decided to return to PBS. There is nothing like home. PBS welcomed him open arms.

Not only did PBS welcomed Jahid home, he even slowly rose to where he is today – Deputy President (Muslim quota). He was a Minister (Rural Development which is in charge after PN/Bersatu formed the State Government in 2020. PBS was not an official member of PN and was only PN-friendly in 2020.

However, when GRS was formed about a year or two later, PBS became a founder member or component party until today. Efforts by certain quarters to try to get it to quit GRS just before the 2025 election failed. 

GRS’ loyalty paid off and today PBS’s acting President Dr Joachim is DCM 1 compared to DCM 3 in 2020 and DCM 2 in 2023.

Dr Joachim Gunsalam’s friendship or comradeship with Hajiji goes back a long way. 

He was Hajiji’s assistant minister for many years in the Ministry of Local Government & Housing before the 2018 election. And, if it matters, both their wives are Dusun Lotud from Tuaran/Tamparuli. Blood is thicker than water. Hajiji’s mother was also a Dusun, by the way.

Coming back to Jahid. In 2004, as PBS candidate he won big in Tamparuli with a huge majority of 5,758 votes. 

In 2008, he pulled through but with a much-reduced majority of 2,743. His strongest opponent was Henry Misun of PKR who got 3,825 votes. This was the year that BN lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament which led by PM Pak Lah’s resignation the following year. Henry later joined Upko.

In 2013, the unexpected happy. This time PKR put a heavyweight Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing. He increased PKR’s votes to 6,862 against Jahid’s 6,479. A majority of 383.

Mojilip, as we called him in school (he was my Form4/5 classmate), was a former Assistant Minister/later Minister under PBS and Deputy Chief Minister under BN/Upko. However, although defeated, Jahid was appointed People’s Development Leader (PPM or Pemimpin Pembangunan Masyarakat) for Tamparuli as BN/PBS was still the State Government. 

PPM was formerly known as PKR (Pemimpin Kemajuan Rakyat) since the post was created by Tan Sri Harris Salleh after the 1981 State election. The BN/Umno government changed it to PPM because it sounded like Anwar Ibrahim’s PKR which was at that time in the Opposition. PKR became the Malaysian government in 2018.

However, in 2018 Jahid had sweet revenge against Mojilip when he defeated the latter. But this time Mojilip stood on his new party Parti Cinta Sabah’s (PCS) ticket.

Jahid got 6,818 votes against Mojilip’s 2,541. The3,326 PKR candidate, although relatively unknown compared to Mojilip, got 4,738 votes. Don’t forget, that was the year that BN lost the government in Malaysia including Sabah. But Jahid remained loyal to PBS and stay put.

In 2020, Jahid polled 6,843 votes to retain Tamparuli, still on a PBS ticket. His nearest opponent, Alijus Sipil (now Datuk and with PGRS) of PKR got 3,326 votes. Mojilip didn’t stand and the PCS candidate was Denis Gimpah got 1,001 votes.

After the 2020 election, Jahid was appointed Rural Development Minister who is in charge of the District Officers among others and of course rural development including SMJ houses. PBS officially became a component of GRS after its formation about 2 years later.

And the person who appointed Jahid a Minister? Why, Hajiji of course – the person who defeated him narrowly in 1990. Politics. Kak Wan (Anwar’s wife) once said “Manusia Merancang, Tuhan Turut Merancang” (Man Plans, but God also Plans). 

Talking about politics and fate, who would have expected that Jahid succeeded Masidi as DO, later succeeded him as Permanent Secretary, later as Assistant Minister in the same Ministry, and finally as its Minister?

Masidi was Tuaran DO once. Hajiji was ADO there. Now all three (Hajiji, Masidi and Jahid until 2025) were in the same Cabinet. Man Plans, God also Plans.

Jahid did not contest in the recent State election. It was not because he was not chosen by PBS. As Deputy President, he could have well been the PBS candidate if he wanted to. His health is an open secret.

PBS just celebrated its anniversary, more than 40 years. Its party election is coming up. Will Jahid defend his deputy presidency? I have no comment in order not to be misunderstood. Sensitive.

If he doesn’t, then the most likely successor could be Datuk Ruslan Muharam. He is the next most senior Muslim leader in PBS. Despite being a Muslim, he won Lumadan twice as PBS candidate, in 2020 and 2025. He is an Assistant Minister and a Bisaya community leader in Beaufort. He is the Janang Gayuh, the Bisaya’s equivalent of Huguan Siou of the Kadazans. He is more than qualified to replace Jahid, should the latter decide to call it a day.

But it’s all up to Jahid. Nobody can force him to retire. He knows his health best and knows when to call it a day. Nobody should push him. Even if he calls it a day, he can always be a PBS Adviser especially for Islamic Affairs. 

His views will continue to be sought by PBS leaders on Muslim affairs. Being a Dusun Muslim, he is a Double-Ended. My friend said Double Cropping. 

I have encountered many YBs since I started working in the 70s during Usno time. Jahid is definitely one of the most humble I have come across. May God shower him with good health to spend with his family and grandchildren for many more years to come.