"Sabah's Cabinet Re-shuffle".Musa the "Ultimate Winner"

THE DUST for the much talked-about Sabah Cabinet reshuffle had finally settled down with the unveiling of the new Cabinet line-up by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Hj Aman (pic) last month, on Wednesday, May 13, 2009.

Once again, Musa stunned many, even the most observing political pundits in the state, with the appointment of Datuk Peter Pang En Yin of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as the new Chinese Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) replacing Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah of Parti Gerakan.

Peter Pang’s (pic) promotion not only stunned political pundits but also leaders of his own party, LDP. This was true as, earlier some of his party leaders including its Youth Chief, Chin Shu Ying had said that its current elected Representatives are too young-and-inexperienced. Thus, not ready to take up such a senior position. Chin had instead recommended MCA for the post citing that it is the largest Chinese-based BN component party.

Many may say that Peter Pang should probably thank his lucky stars for continuing to shine on him. As a first timer, this is in fact his second time lucky, after being made the Youth and Sports Minister, shortly after winning the Karamunting state seat in the last general election.

Peter Pang may seem to be really lucky, but the truth is, he is just a “convenient-yet-reliable” tool for Musa to maneuver in his best interest rather than that of the state’s. Compared to the other two LDP assemblymen, Teo Chee Kang (Tg. Kapor) and Pang Nyuk Ming (Merotai), Peter Pang is not closely aligned to LDP Founder cum former President, Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat who is a known archrival of Musa. Furthermore, Peter Pang and Musa are also close family friends and business associates.

Hence, Peter Pang’s promotion is not only a big slap on the face of Kah Kiat (pic) and other LDP leaders who are closely aligned to him, but is also a move by Musa to curtail Kah Kiat’s influence in LDP, at the same time to better protect his own interests. Musa knew for a fact that till today, Kah Kiat still has a firm grip on LDP. It’s an open secret that it’s President Datuk VK Liew, Deputy President Datuk Chin Shu Pin, his brother cum Youth Chief, Shu Ying and its Secretary-general, Teo are all closely aligned to Kah Kiat.

Peter Pang’s promotion is a glaring testimony that Musa can’t be bothered with the interest and welfare of the Chinese community, neither does he care with the sentiments of the other Chinese leaders in his Cabinet. As far as he’s concerned, Datuk Raymond Tan Shu kiah (pic), Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai, Datuk Edward Khoo and Peter Pang owed their respective post to him.

These so-called Chinese leaders were obviously aware of this hence, like buffaloes tied to their noses they had no choice but to accept Pang’s ‘turbo-charged’ ascension as the state’s most senior Chinese leader despite being the most junior and most inexperienced among them. For the sake of their own survival and to ‘cari makan’, they just had to swallow whatever pride they have.

Raymond, under tremendous pressure from the other BN component parties opted to join Parti Gerakan, the second largest BN component party after the MCA, and was made Gerakan’s Vice President almost instantaneously. Unfortunately, he not only failed to keep his coveted DCM post but also got demoted to a ministry of lesser importance.

While many may deem his failure to retain his DCM post a major slap to him and Gerakan. But, his close aides revealed otherwise, that he in fact didn’t mind it at all.

This was because by now he would have secured whatever projects or outstanding payments there were under his previous portfolio. He had been given ‘ample notice’ to collect whatever outstanding payments there were. And he is now moving on to a new territory for a greener pasture. As Musa’s strategic ‘partner-in-business’, it is almost certain that he will continue to have a good time playing an ‘industrialist’.

Yee (pic), on the other hand despite his intense lobbying with cheap publicity stunts to win Musa’s heart, also failed to realize his dream of becoming the Chinese DCM in the state. His lobbying for the post was clearly reflected in a series of media statements and publicity stunts praising Musa over a host of issues like the allocations of funds for the Chinese schools and temples in the state, the funding of the annual Chinese cultural events like the Chinese New Year celebrations and many more that were not reported.

Worse still, Yee’s publicity stunts incurred the wrath and disgust of the Chinese community when he made used of the Hainan Federation of Sabah and Labuan to construct another Mazu (pic) Sea Goddess statue in Kudat.

The Chinese community viewed this as nothing but a maneuver to please his political master – Musa, with the hope of neutralizing the impact and humiliation to Musa, which was brought about by the ongoing legal suit filed by Kah Kiat over the stoppage of his Mazu statue project, also in Kudat, two years ago. It is worth noting that both he and Kah Kiat were one-time close buddies.

Yee’s move had not only failed to land him the coveted DCM post which he had always dreamt of, even during his waking hours, but instead caused the Chinese community to despise him, as they deemed Yee’s move as nothing but a very shameful and humiliating move to win Musa’s heart.

To the Chinese community of Sabah , Yee had sold his soul to Musa and they regarded it as a disgrace of the highest order and a betrayal of their trust.

Like Yee, Khoo (pic) who is also the Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister and Kepayan State Assemblyman too had a bitter taste left in his mouth. Despite the strong recommendation from LDP coupled with his subtle lobbying through the various parties including certain Sabah MCA leaders and even Sabah DAP leader like Jimmy Wong, he too failed to realize his ultimate dream. Worse still, he didn’t even get a promotion as a full minister, something which he could at least be happy with.

To the Chinese community of Sabah , this clearly reflected that Musa has no confidence nor respect for Khoo. This was probably due to the fact that till to-date, Khoo is still being regarded as a “spoiled brat” by the Chinese community of Sabah , due to his pompous “rich man son’s attitude”. Khoo is also known to have very little grassroots support and had failed to bring about much improvement to Sabah MCA after all these years.

The assigning of Datuk Dr Ewon Ebin (pic right) to head the Ministry of Rural Development replacing Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan (pic left) was another brilliant move by Musa to better protect his personal interest.

Like Peter Pang and Raymond, Ebin too is considered a trusted lieutenant of Musa and his new appointment was to keep his archrival cum Federal Rural and Regional Development Minister, Datuk Shafie Apdal’s influence in check, especially over the disbursement and utilization of funds.

The appointment of Pairin to take over Raymond’s Infrastructure Development portfolio, which is considered an important portfolio, is another smart and calculated move with careful political consideration by Musa. It was deemed by many as a move to secure Pairin/PBS’s loyalty and support. Musa obviously realized that he can’t rely on the support from within Sabah Umno which is still volatile if not faltering. At the same time, he also realized that he can’t depend on the other Kadazandusun Murut (KDM) leaders.

In gist, the recent Sabah Cabinet reshuffle was a good tactical move by Musa to better secure his faltering position amidst a host of controversies surrounding him and the continuous attempts from within Sabah Umno to oust him.