Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi’s remarks not exactly a breach of collective responsibility but a reality check on current state of affairs.
By Terence Fernandez
EVERYONE and their grandmother is getting their nickers into a knot over remarks of Works Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi on the sometimes testy relationship between Sabah and Sarawak and the Peninsular (or Malaya as East Malaysians like to refer to their west coast cousins).
What did the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) secretary-general say that got everyone hot under the collar and demand he abide by collective Cabinet responsibility?
In a recent interview on radio station BFM, Nanta Linggi spoke about handling sensitive communal issues including issues across the South China Sea. He said:
“If you don’t like us, just divorce us. I don’t really want that to happen. But we must be respected, and we must be understood. We don’t want to waste our time on bickering.”
Everyone is fixated on the word “divorce”.
But Nanta Linggi also said: “You should learn from us. Over here, you quarrel over everything.”
Talking about constant racial and religious rhetoric by politicians in the Peninsular he quipped:
“ I’m sorry to say it, but looking at what’s happening on the mainland, maybe we were never meant to be one nation in the first place.”
In one’s opinion, expressing such frustrations cannot be seen as departing from collective ownership. After all he is speaking the truth about the current state of affairs in the Peninsular and the somewhat flaccid efforts to address them — because these types of narratives are politically advantageous to some.
Those of us in the West have always looked at Sabah and Sarawak as true examples of what living harmoniously in a diverse country is all about. Mutual respect and acceptance. Not tolerance, but acceptance!
Nanta Linggi did stress that he will “protect Malaysia” alluding to the fact that his grandfather Tun Jugah Barieng was one of the signatories to the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
However he did concede that if push comes to shove, he is “Sarawak first”. And his loyalties will be with Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg.
The issues he is dealing with as a Federal minister and Sarawak leader are complex, and Cabinet decisions sometimes puts him between a rock and a hard place.
Primary to this is of course the Petronas-Petros dispute and Sarawak’s assertion over its oil and gas rights.
Nanta Linggi is caught in the middle here between his responsibilities as a Federal minister and his obligations as a Sarawak leader.
If indeed he is having loyalty issues and cannot be on board the Madani policies, then yes, it is perhaps good if he leaves Cabinet.
Take the queue from United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (UPKO) president Datuk Ewon Benedick who made good on his promise to resign as Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives, if the Attorney General appeals against the Sabah High Court’s findings that Putrajaya’s failure to fulfil Sabah’s 40% revenue entitlement for five decades is unlawful.
Ewon too stood his ground on a Sabah First agenda that may be inconsistent with the Federal cabinet’s position and did the honourable thing by stepping down.
Prior to that of course the Madani Cabinet saw the departures of Economy Minister Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli and Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad following their losses in the PKR party polls and their inability to align with party president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on several issues at both party and government levels.
Meanwhile the DAP has also come up with a strategy for political survival following its walloping in the Sabah state elections where it will review its position in the government after a six month reform timeline that it gave Anwar.
Its secretary general Anthony Loke even went as far as offering to quit if that is what is required for the Government to give its recognition to the Unified Examinations Certificate (UEC).
Actually no need to wait six months. DAP should just withdraw its ministers now. The fact that it is giving ultimatum to the Prime Minister in itself is saying it is not playing ball.
By any measure, collective ministerial responsibility is not a romantic concept.
The principle is simple. Once a decision is made by Cabinet, ministers stand by it — publicly and consistently — regardless of personal reservations expressed behind closed doors.
However in the case of a Unity Government, it is evident that this principle is easier said than practised.
Going into the next election cycle soon, it will be interesting and unnerving as all sides start showing their cards in this game of political poker. – scoop.my
Editor: Terence Fernandez is Editor in Chief of Big Boom Media which publishes Scoop
