by Churchill Edward, Johnson K Saai, Geryl Ogilvy Ruekeith, Zoee Hillson, Antonia Chiam and Peter Sibon. Posted on June 30, 2011, Thursday
LET’S SEE NOW: Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud (right) receives updates from State Secretary Datuk Amar Mohd Morshidi Abdul Ghani at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN). Yesterday was the final day of the DUN sitting, which began on June 20. - Photographer: Jeffery Mostapa
KUCHING: Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said he needs more time to think before reshuffling the present state cabinet.
He said it was not about ‘inspiration’ but rather more so about the ‘timing’ of when it would be carried out.
“Honestly it’s not about inspiration of when I will reshuffle the state cabinet but more so about the timing,” Taib told the media after his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly Sitting here yesterday.
Last week, he had told the media that the new state cabinet line-up would be a very complex matter following the massive loss of SUPP in the last state election where they lost 13 out of the 15 Chinese majority seats.
Out of the 13 seats, the DAP had won 12 seats and PKR one. The only two winners from the Chinese community are SUPP deputy secretary general Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh who had won his Bawang Assan seat and SUPP CWC member Datuk Lee Kim Shin in Senadin.
Notable loss to the party are its president and deputy chief minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan in Piasau, treasurer-general Datuk David Teng (Repok), information chief Datuk Alfred Yap (Kota Sentosa), Youth chief Sih Hua Tong (Batu Lintang) and budding politician and former head of SGH Heart Centre Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian (Pending).
Also last week he was quoted as saying: “In a way yes, But in another way, it is the ups and downs of politics.
And I want to see whether there are ways of encouraging better Chinese participation in the government.
“And that is very important because basically what I want for Sarawak is that it should always be a multi-racial state.
“I think we can say that we are very determined to do so for the simple reason that in Sarawak, we have no race that has the simple majority,” Taib was quoted after attending the opening of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) by Head of State Tun Datuk Patinggi Abang Muhammad Salahuddin at DUN complex here last week.
As such, Taib said he would take some time to study the current political situation before reshuffling the present cabinet.
“Let me think about it properly. I have got to study it (the current political situation) it very well. It’s quite a complex situation here.
“You see the main thing is, I am a bit worried how I can get the Chinese representation to express themselves on a more natural way,” he explained.
Taib who is also the Minister of Planning and Resource Management added that he still believed that most Chinese in Sarawak were quite moderate and decent people.
“But during election, they got excited, they followed the trend. It is okay. We accepted that and I don’t want to comment on that,” he said.
However, Taib was optimistic that SUPP’s recent failure was not going to be a permanent feature in the local politics.
When asked whether Wong would be elevated as deputy chief minister to replace Dr Chan, Taib quipped: “Let’s see what happened. I have got to consult my colleagues in a lot of ways.”
He also refused to speculate on the current sitting arrangement of PRS president Tan Sri Dr James Masing who had been seated on Dr Chan’s former chair in the DUN arrangement.
“I have not thought about all these things yet. Are we going to have one DCM or three or four, I don’t know yet.
“Let us see the structure of the cabinet,” he said.
Currently, the state cabinet has 10 full ministers and 12 assistant ministers after the recent elevation of Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem as the Minister with Special Functions in the Chief Minister’s office.
The last major state cabinet reshuffle was done at the end of 2009 and minor one in early 2010.
Salam. That is indeed a good news. But when will the Chief Minister be reshuffled?
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