Just a day more than a week after being appointed the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Ghapur Salleh has called it quits, saying that he wanted to “do my own thing”.
Just as the news of Ghapur stepping down trickled in, speculations on his reasons to do so also started to mount.
While some say that he could be joining the opposition, others merely suggested that his resignation could be more to an internal struggle within Sabah Umno.
Ghapur however rejected these, stating that he remained Kalabakan Umno division chief and at the same time dismissed any talk of him quitting the party or joining the opposition.
It is learnt that Ghapur has sent his resignation letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday evening.
The prime minister has not responded publicly to the resignation. The matter is however expected to be discussed at the Umno Supreme Council meeting today as it effects a Umno position in the government.
Three deputy ministers now
Meanwhile, Ghapur was quoted as saying in a local daily that he was not interested in any government post.
“I’m not interested in any government post. I just want to do my own thing. I am still a division chief and I do not want people to speculate as my commitment is to Umno and its leadership under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,” he was quoted as saying.
He was also asked as to why he waited until eight days after being appointed to step down and he responded by saying: “I don’t want to be tied up with government duties.”
“I’m leaving the matter in the hands of the prime minister,” he added.
Ghapur was a former Sabah deputy chief minister who quit the post in 1997 but returned to the state Cabinet several years later.
Ghapur, 64, is the second Sabah MP and Sabah Umno leader to turn down a federal deputy minister’s post following the March 8 general election.
Soon after Abdullah named his cabinet on March 18, Kimanis MP Anifah Aman declined to take up the post of Deputy Transport Minister.
Similarly another Umno leader, from Pahang, Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar, also declined the Deputy Foreign Minister’s post. Both of them said that they were senior enough to be made full ministers.
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