Chief Minister of Sabah

Chief Minister of Sabah Ketua Menteri Sabah
Incumbent Musa Aman since 27 March 2003
Government of Sabah
Style	Yang Amat Berhormat (The Right Honourable)
Member of	Cabinet of Sabah
Reports to	Sabah State Legislative Assembly
Residence	Sri Gaya, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Seat	Tingkat 17 & 18, Wisma Innoprise, Jalan Sulaman, 88502 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Appointer	Juhar Mahiruddin as Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah
Term length	While commanding the confidence of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly With State Elections held no more than five years apart
Constituting instrument	Constitution of the State of Sabah
Inaugural holder	Fuad Stephens
Formation	16 September 1963; 53 years ago (1963-09-16)
Deputy	Joseph Pairin Kitingan Yahya Hussin Raymond Tan Shu Kiah
Website	ww2.sabah.gov.my/cm/index.php

The Chief Minister of Sabah is the head of government for the Malaysian state of Sabah. From 2003, the post is held by Musa Aman from the Barisan Nasional coalition. As in other parts of the Malaysian federation, the Westminster Parliamentary system is adopted, whereby, the leader of the party with the most seats in the state legislature would usually become the chief minister of Sabah. In other words, it is the person commanding the support of the state legislature. The chief minister is appointed by the head of state known as the Yang di-Pertua Negeri. In comparison to other states in Malaysia, the office of the Chief Minister of Sabah has been held by a more diverse group of people in terms of ethnicity and religion. The post has been held by Kadazandusuns, Bajaus, Malays, Chinese, Suluks, and other persons of mixed heritage as well as being Muslims, Buddhists and Christians.

The rotation system was used in the state of Sabah as a means to divide and share power among the three main communities of the state—the Christian Bumiputras, the Muslim Bumiputras, and the Chinese people—represented by various political parties within the Barisan National coalition supposedly representing the interests of those communities. The system was introduced by the then Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad when the ruling coalition party, Barisan Nasional, formed government despite losing in the 1994 state elections. This occurred due to defections which took place by elected representatives of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), the party which won the election. Among the defectors were Bernard Dompok, who later became the chief minister himself and Joseph Kurup.