Today Pakatan Rakyat Sabah has filed an application to move a vote of no-confidence against Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman in light of the series of kidnapping incidents in the East COast of the state.
Making the application was Klias Assemblyman, Datuk Lajim Ukin who is also the opposition leader in the Sabah State Assembly, who acts on behalf of Pakatan Rakyat Sabah which it’s Secretariat has conducted a meeting last Friday. We have achieved consensus pertaining the issue and therefore decided moving the non confidence vote motion against Musa who is also chairman of the State Security Committee must be held responsible for the failure of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) to ensure security in the East Coast.
The application was submitted to the State Legislative secretariat on Thursday by Pakatan Rakyat elected representatives namely, myself (DAP-Sri Tanjung), Dr Edwin Bosi (DAP-Kapayan), Junz Wong (DAP-Likas), Dr Roland Chia (PKR-Inanam) and Terence Siambun (PKR-Moyog).
We were accompanied by Kota Kinabalu MP, Jimmy Wong who is also DAP Sabah chief and PAS Sabah Commissioner Haji Aminuddin Aling.
I was representing Sabah Opposition Leader Lajim to hand over the application, as Lajim was away in Kuala Lumpur but the application must be submitted by Friday as the next sitting was scheduled to start at July 14 to 16.
It is the responsibility of the Chief Minister to ensure the overall state’s security since he is also the state security committee chairman. He is also the chairman of Esscom.
Issues of intrusion and kidnapping in the east coast of Sabah had been going on for many years and among the notorious ones was the abduction of 21 tourists of various nationalities from Sipadan Island in the late 1990s by Abu Sayyaf group and the Lahad Datu intrusion by Sulu terrorists last year.
Following the Sulu intrusion, the government had set up the Esscom but instead of strengthening security in the East Coast, more kidnapping happened beginning with the abduction of two Taiwanese tourists last year.
Things seemed to have gone out of control in April this year when two people, including a Chinese nationals were kidnapped from a resort in Semporna and not barely one month the kidnappers struck again in Lahad Datu where they abducted a Chinese fish breeder farm manager and then last month in Kunak where two people were taken away.
These spates of kidnapping incidents had badly affected not only Sabah but the whole of Malaysia.
Tourism, according to our calculation had dropped drastically and losing an estimated RM11 million per month due to the cancellations of flights and bookings of acommodations in tourist hotspots in the East Coast.
As the tourism spiralled it would affect the economy of the state, since it was one of Sabah’s revenue top contributor.
We have also requested that the voting be done through secret ballot and not by show of hand.
Pakatan Rakyat Sabah also submitted an emergency motion to adjourn the sitting so that the issue of the 20 per cent oil royalty increase could be discussed.
This time we were prepared so that their application would comply to all the three criterions in order for Speaker Datuk Salleh Tun Said to allow the motion.
The criterions are the issue must be urgent, for the people interest and not out of time.
The motion would be tabled by Dr Roland Chia and supported by me.