The Kota Marudu MP said the Chinese voters’ support for GRS in last week’s state election was “disappointing”.
“I think the reaction of the Chinese voters was disappointing. Some said only 5% (voted for GRS), I counted 10%,” he said, during PBS’ thanksgiving dinner at his residence in Penampang near here last night.
“So I think, (this will) allow the Chinese to think, to assess their position … are they going to support DAP or PKR forever?
“If that is what they have in mind, I think they have to reconsider their position, (such as) to vote for a multiracial party like PBS … but I leave it to Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor to deal with that (Chinese representation).”
However, Ongkili said it was too early to discuss the issue as Hajiji had yet to name his full state Cabinet members as well as the six available slots for nominated assemblymen.
No Chinese deputy chief minister (DCM) was named by Hajiji, who was sworn in as chief minister last Tuesday in his state Cabinet.
Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chief Bung Moktar Radin, STAR president Jeffrey Kitingan and PBS vice-president Joachim Gunsalam were named as the three deputy chief ministers.
This is the first time there is no Chinese DCM in the Sabah Cabinet after PBS introduced the three DCM system in the 1980s, with each slot to represent the Muslim-Bumiputera, Kadazan Dusun Murut and Chinese communities in the state.
However, there is no fixed rule that the chief minister must appoint a Chinese to a DCM position.
GRS lost all the Chinese-majority seats it contested in the state election after the Sabah Progressive Party, a Perikatan Nasional (PN) component party, and BN’s MCA were defeated in the six seats they battled against the DAP, which contested under Warisan’s banner.
PBS, on the other hand, lost the Api-Api seat to PKR while STAR, also a component of PN, lost the east coast Sri Tanjong seat, also to the DAP.
Meanwhile, asked if he was worried the Chinese community would see this as a form of punishment for not supporting GRS, Ongkili said: “That (reasoning) has been used before.”
“But I think it’s normal in politics – that I serve you and that I expect you to respond to my service to you, so it goes both ways.
“But it’s a bit too early. I think, let the state government be fully formed first. And they (Chinese community) can participate not necessarily in the government but it could be in other forms of administration. I will leave it to the wisdom of the chief minister,” Ongkili said.