I refer to the malaysiakini report Sabah deputy chief minister quits. Bravo to Chong Kah Kiat who stuck to his principles in quitting the state cabinet due his differences with Chief Minister Musa Aman.

There is at least one good man who is willing to forgo the perks of office if he feels that he can't get along with his chief and that the best option is to resign from his cabinet post. If my memory serves me right, there were two occasions when ministers resigned from their cabinet posts due to a difference of opinion with the prime minister then.

One was the late Dr Ismail Rahman who quit his senior cabinet post under the late Tunku Abdul Rahman in the late 1960s and the other Musa Hitam, who quit his powerful deputy prime minster's post in 1984 after being at loggerheads with the prime minister then, Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Presently, we have spineless cabinet members marred by corruption and abuse of power, and who still want to cling to their political posts forever. They think a cabinet post is for life and through political maneuvering have manage to killed off their better-qualified rivals who had the potential to replace them.

Something is brewing in the Land Below the Wind right now and with all the scandals of the present chief minister of Sabah, his political future is like that of his brethren, the chief minister of Sarawak whose political future is not secure after the allegations surfaced recently of kickbacks of RM32 million from a Japanese company.

With Chong's abrupt resignation, the spotlight will now be on the present Sabah chief minister Musa Aman to explain in public all the allegations that he abused his power to enrich himself and his cronies.

Sabahans have been known to kick out the incumbent government and replace with it a new regime if they are fed up with politicians abusing their power for their own selfish needs. In the 1970s, the ruling Berjaya party under Harris Salleh was replaced by Usno which was led by Mustapha Harun, which was in turn later replaced with the Parti Bersatu Sabah under Joseph Pairin Kitingan. Will history repeat itself in the next polls?

Now is the best of time for the opposition parties to get their act together to form the next Sabah government. Knowing that Sabahan politicians tend to jump ship if the party they represent loses big in any general election, the possibility of the opposition winning big and forming the next state government is there.

As the general election is looming over the horizon, voters will need to search their souls when it comes to voting. We should teach the present regime a lesson as they have failed to curb corruption and abuse of power by those holding the fort. Scandal after scandal has been highlighted which have caused government coffers to be depleted and yet no one is held accountable.

The rising cost of fuel, transport and foodstuff are due to the government's failure to stop inflation and the common people are now stretched to put food on the table for their families to eat. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer under the present government's weak policies.

Think hard and vote.