Perikatan Nasional Government should stop politicking and focus all its energies to channel all available resources to fight Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah
One is reminded of the Shakespearean quote: “the lady doth protest too much” when reading the Open Letter from former Sabah Chief Minister, Musa Aman, denying that that he is responsible for the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah and Malaysia.
I will say that if anyone in Sabah is responsible for the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is none other than Musa Aman.
Musa Aman was Chief Minister of Sabah for 15 years from 2003 to 2018, but he continued the policies whereby Sabah, the richest state in Malaysia, is the poorest state in the country, both in terms of poverty of the people and infrastructure development of the state – to the extent that a schoolgirl Veveonah Mosibun from Pitas, Sabah had to spend 24 hours on a tree-top to get better Internet connection to sit for an online examination!
In his 15 years as Sabah Chief Minister, Musa had more than enough time to fulfil the 1994 UMNO Sabah general election pledge of a New Sabah.
Firstly, UMN promised in 1994 to reduce the poverty level in Sabah from 33 per cent in 1994 to zero in the year 2000.
Sabah is one of the richest states in the country, but after more than half a century in Malaysia, Sabah’s people have remained the poorest in the country, reduced to a position like that of Kelantan. This is not progress but regress.
What did Musa do to fulfil this promise although the year 2,000 had come and gone?
The sad fact is that zero poverty rate in Sabah remains a chimerical dream as it is still one of the highest in the country.
Secondly, UMNO promised in 1994 to eliminate illiteracy to zero in year 2,000 but year 2,000, 2,010 have come and gone, and this objective remains another chimerical dream.
Thirdly, UMNO promised in 1994 to eradicate corruption in Sabah. This is another chimerical dream. In fact, Sabah is one of the states where corruption is most serious and where corrupt political leaders seem to enjoy immunity from prosecution.
Fourthly, UMNO promised in 1994 to give every Sabahan a house by the year 2,000. How many houses did Musa Aman give to the people of Sabah in his 15 years as Chief Minister?
Fifthly, UMNO promised in 1994 to resolve the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah. It is now 26 years since the “Aku Janji” and the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah remain as complex and intractable as ever. There had been a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the problem of illegal immigrants in the intervening period, but the problem of illegal immigrants remain as distant from resolution as ever.
Will the new Sabah state government led by Chief Minister Hajiji Mohd Noor pledge to fulfil these pledges 26 years ago?
I have said and stand by statement that the original sin of Malaysia’s Covid 19 crisis was the Sheraton Move in February toppling the Pakatan Harapan government, sparking the second and third waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, causing 21,363 infections and 190 fatalities in Malaysia to date.
Former Prime Minister, Najib Razak had directly blamed Bersatu for the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic last week. He wrote that the National Security Council (NSC) had rejected the suggestion from Health Minister (Dr Adham Baba), from Umno, to implement mandatory quarantine on those returning from Sabah before the state elections and blamed Bersatu's Home Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainudin for not properly isolating prisoner or observing the standard operating procedures (SOP) which caused the clusters in several detention centres in Kedah, Perak and Penang.
Najib lamented: “If such mistakes did not occur, there would not be a third wave of Covid-19 in Malaysia. And now, Umno is also being blamed for the third wave.”
The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin, had said that the spread of Covid-19 in and from Sabah were delayed due to unavoidable reasons.
What were these “unavoidable reasons” that allowed the cumulative total of Covid-19 infections in Sabah to skyrocket from 426 cases and eight fatalities on Sept 1 to 8,082 cases and 64 fatalities yesterday?
This is a shocking increase of Covid 19 cases in Sabah by some 19 times and an increase of fatalities by eight times in less than two months – considering that when Malaysia first imposed the movement control order (MCO) throughout Malaysia on March 18, the country only had 790 cases and two deaths!
Would Musa agree that this is a political irresponsibility bordering on criminal negligence?
Despite Sabah becoming the epicentre of the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia (Selangor, the second state, has a cumulative total of 3,357 infections and 25 fatalities), the Prime Minister and the Cabinet are totally engrossed in the Malaysian Game of Thrones and are not channelling all available resources to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah.
I call on the Perikatan Nasional Government should stop politicking and to focus all its energies to channel all available resources to fight Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah.