KOTA KINABALU, Oct 8 — Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor is under a 14-day quarantine after coming into close contact with Covid-19 patients.

The Sulaman assemblyman released a statement today saying he was voluntarily undergoing quarantine but assured Sabahans that this would not disrupt his administration.

"The state government will function as usual and any meeting that needs to be carried out will be done via video conferencing,” he said.

Hajiji was sworn in as Sabah’s 16th chief minister on September 28 after the informal Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition won the state election two days prior.

After naming half his Cabinet, the remainder was left till today. They were sworn in at a low-key, little publicised ceremony which saw five new ministers, 18 new assistant ministers and four politicians receiving their letters of appointment to be nominated assemblymen.

One of the nominated assemblymen — PAS secretary Dr Aliakbar Gulasan — is a controversial choice as the conservative Islamist party has never won a seat in any Sabah state election.

Two more leaders — Sabah Progressive Party’s Datuk Yong Teck Lee and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s Datuk Amisah Yassin — did not attend the ceremony today.

Speculation and rumours were rife that GRS does not have any Chinese assemblymen after all its Chinese candidates failed to secure seats at the polls.

The state government may appoint up to six nominated assemblymen, and Hajiji could use this to name a Chinese leader to represent Chinese interests in the state.

This is the first time that no Chinese leader has been named to the DCM’s post in 35 years.

By tradition, Sabah appoints one DCM each from the Muslim Bumiputera, non-Muslim Bumiputera and the Chinese communities to represent the groups’ respective interests.