Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) today announced that it would move a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when Parliament resumes on Monday.
It is the first time in the history of the nation that a vote of no-confidence is to be moved against a prime minister.
"In the coming sitting of the Parliament session starting Monday, June 23, our MPs will support a vote of no confidence on the PM.
"Whether the motion will be tabled by our party MP or another MP will be decided in due course," said a press statement released today.Sapp has two parliamentarians - Dr Chua Soon Bui (Tawau) and Eric Enchin Majimbun (Sepanggar) - and four state assemblypersons.
Majimbun, who is currently overseas, has expressed his support for the party's decision by signing the press statement click here for full press statements from both MPs.
Four reasons
Chua, who was present at the party's 90-minute press conference in Kota Kinabalu, gave four reasons for backing the no-confidence vote.
They are:
No concrete actions have been taken on the issue of illegal immigrants in Sabah. "Our sovereignty is threatened," said Chua.
Sabah, being the poorest state, is greatly burdened by the sharp hike in petrol prices. The government has failed to provide "holistic economic solutions".
Sapp MPs would fail in their role as elected representatives as issues raised such as poor delivery systems, corruption, wastage of resources, lack of transparency and no sense of accountability are ignored.
People have lost confidence in the leadership of Abdullah. Sapp is of the opinion that if the top leadership can't perform, then Abdullah should make way for other able leader to take over.
Party president Yong Teck Lee said Sapp would not immediately quit the coalition led by Abdullah, but that its status would be reviewed at the end of the week.
He attacked BN's record in the impoverished state, saying that it had been subjected to unfair laws and excessive taxes.
"That is why we need an immediate declaration of no confidence in the PM and the government, to tell the BN government that we can no longer tolerate their insensitive attitude towards the Sabah issues that are real and serious," he said at the press conference held at the party headquarters at 2pm.In an immediate reaction, Abdullah said: "I have not been able to satisfy his (Yong's) personal greed."
According to Bernama, the embattled prime minister did not elaborate on the matter.
Decision on Friday?
Today's annoncement appeared to be the opening move by the BN component member which may see the Sabah-based party eventually leaving the coalition.
“Today is just the first step. There might not be any defections for now,” said a source.
A poll placed in Sapp's blog also indicated the general feelings on the ground at the moment. The poll asked members of the public whether the party should stay on in BN, leave the coalition but remain independent, or join Pakatan.At press time, there were 2,052 votes tallied, with 85 percent (1,749 votes) asking Sapp to join Pakatan. Another 242 (11 percent) want the party to leave BN and remain independent. Only 2 percent (61 votes) urged it to stay on with BN.
To a question of whether the party would be pulling out of BN, Yong said that he could only answer that question after the party's Supreme Council meeting this Friday."We will have a press conference on Friday June 20 to announce this matter of Sapp's membership in BN after our supreme council meeting," he said. Anwar needs 30 MPs
In recent weeks Sapp has been identified as the most likely party to leave BN and join forces with Anwar Ibrahim's Pakatan Rakyat.
Sapp is led by outspoken former chief minister Yong, who in recent months has questioned Abdullah's policies towards Sabah and the federal government's inability to solve the illegal migrants' problem in the state.
The party has two members of parliament and four representatives in the state assembly.
Political commentators point out that even if the party pulled out of BN to join Pakatan, the defection of the two MPs would not be sufficient to threaten Abdullah's BN.
Anwar needs 30 MPs to derail Abdullah and BN from power.
However, Sabah sources claim that other BN coalition partners would follow Sapp out of BN if the party sparks the exodus.
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