Third call on Muhyiddin to convene emergency zoom Cabinet meeting to channel all available resources to fight third wave of Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah

I am making a third call on the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, to convene an emergency zoom Cabinet meeting to channel all resources to fight the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah.

If there is no response from Muhyiddin, I will next call for his resignation for gross incompetence and ineptitude of his Cabinet.

The question will also arise whether a Prime Minister or Minister who is on a 14-day home quarantine should be regarded as going on leave and should not be functioning from the four walls of his residence.

Already, Malaysia is operating as if there is no Health Minister after the disastrous “warm water” episode of Adham Baba, two weeks after he was named to this office, followed by his “500 countries and 15 states” bloopers.

As a result, the Health Director-General is single-handedly, together with the frontliners, waging the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, even when the Health Director-General was on 14-day home quarantine because of the Covid-19 infection of a Cabinet Minister.

It is to be noted that in the initial fortnight of becoming a Health Minister, there were occasions when Adham Baba announced the latest development and statistics about the Covid-19 pandemic but after the “warm water, 500 countries and 15 states” episodes, this has not recurred.

Adham Baba is from UMNO, but ironically, the former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is complaining that UMNO is blamed for the third wave of Covid-19 epidemic although he said it was the fault solely of Bersatu!

Hasn’t UMNO an MP who could be a more competent and efficient Health Minister?

But it is not only the Health Ministry which is operating as if there is no Minister, this applies to other Ministries as well, in particular the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry since the Minister’s escapades on his return from Turkey on July 7, violating the Covid-19 quarantine SOP and threatening the health and lives of other Ministers and Members of Parliament.

Other Ministries, like Education and Higher Education, have not been examples of competence, efficiency and far-sightedness either.

It is no exaggeration to say that Malaysians are suffering from the weakest, most incompetent and unaccountable government since the formation of the backdoor Muhyiddin administration after the Sheraton Move conspiracy, causing not only the second wave but also the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the 14-day Sabah state general election campaign, Muhyiddin visited Sabah three times, and he promised that more aid and allocations would be extended to Sabah for the benefit of Sabahans if the Sabah state government is aligned with the Federal Government.

Is Sabah going to be the place he first visits after his 14-day home quarantine because of the Covid-19 pandemic?

Instead of fulfilling his election pledge to the people of Sabah, Muhyiddin seems to have left Sabahans to their own devices after bringing about the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah.

When did the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic begin and when is it going to peak and begin to flatten the curve?

Officially, the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic began on Sept. 20, but it could have started on Sept.12, the Nomination Day of the Sabah state general election, or even earlier.

On Sept. 1, Sabah was the sixth state with Covid-19 cases on the cumulative count, having 426 cases as compared to KL (2,587 cases), Selangor (2,174 cases), Negri Sembilan (1,034 cases), Johore (751 cases) and Sarawak (699 cases).

In terms of cumulative fatalities, Sabah was No. 5 with Negri Sembilan with eight deaths, after Selangor (24), Johore (21), Sarawak (19) and Kuala Lumpur (18).

Now, Sabah has become the top state both in terms of cumulative total of Covid-19 infections and fatalities, with a cumulative total of 6,286 cases and 51 fatalities out of a Malaysian total of 18,758 cases and 176 fatalities. Selangor, the second state in cumulative total of infections, have 3,014 cases and 24 fatalities while third is Kuala Lumpur with 2,824 cases and 19 fatalities.

Is this the “reward” to the people of Sabah for voting in a Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) State Government aligned to the Federal Government?

The summoning of an emergency zoom Cabinet meeting to fulfil Muhyiddin’s pledge to the people of Sabah during the Sabah state general election to channel all available resources to Sabah in the fight against the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia is urgent and imperative especially as the Health Director-General, Noor Hisham Abdullah has called for volunteers outside Sabah to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah and the warning by epidemiologist, Dr. Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud that Sabah’s public healthcare might collapse in the next few weeks if cases continue to rise at the same rate in the Borneo state.

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri