MUSA AMAN’S OPEN LETTER A FAIL ATTEMPT TO BLAME WARISAN FOR SABAH CRISIS – DAP
20 OCTOBER 2020
KOTA KINABALU: DAP Sabah Political Education Director Adrian Lasimbang rebuked former Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman open letter for criticising Warisan Plus as the cause of the spike of Covid-19 cases in the state.
“Everybody knows the whole political fiasco in Sabah was triggered by Musa Aman and his operatives' move to lure state assemblymen to form a backdoor government in Sabah.
“Whatever happens after that is a result of the action. It is a clear-cut situation, there is no need for long and winding explanation,” he said in a statement here, Tuesday.
“Had he ever consider that his move might have implications to the people when trying to take over the government during the pandemic, especially the risk in changing government when we really need to have fully functioning government?” he questioned.
He said, the removal of the state health portfolio by the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government and there has been a lot of restructuring.
“GRS even made the decision to terminate the Village Community Management Council (MPKK), village and native chiefs immediately during their first cabinet meeting. Now who is monitoring the situation in the villages and who is facilitating any government assistance during this difficult times?”
Adrian stated that Musa Aman’s open letter was a desperate attempt to blame the Warisan government who was then doing its best to contain the spread of the Covid-19.
Expressing the same disapproval was DAP Sabah Secretary cum Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin who described the Musa’s open letter as “obnoxious and demeaning.
In the said open letter, Musa blamed the then chief minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, for calling a state election rather than “handing back” the government to him.
“Musa's statement is totally uncalled for. Why make such a statement, especially when the people are struggling with more than 800 positive cases a day for the past few days consecutively? Isn't it a clear case of shirking of responsibilities by GRS?
“This is not the time for politicking, and that Musa Aman's denial of liability right now is absolutely not welcomed, is an afterthought, and does not help in reducing the impact of Covid-19,” he said in a statement, Tuesday.
Chan said, Musa should instead take a leaf from another former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak who had reminded politicians to focus at tackling the impact of the pandemic.
“What Salleh said is true, that the people are starting to see politicians as being greedy and selfish… What Musa Aman and other GRS leader should do right now is to start working and not to play up the blame game.
“Instead, they should urge the Federal Government to expedite the gazetting process for the RM45 billion Covid-19 bill which has been passed in Parliament almost two months ago back in August, so that the fund could be put to good use right now in acquiring and procuring the relevant medical equipment such as beds, ventilators and test kits to treat patients.”
On 25 August 2020, the Malaysian Parliament had passed the Temporary Measures for Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019) (Covid-19) Bill 2020 to set up a Covid-19 fund in which RM45 billion had been approved.
Chan and other members of parliament from Pakatan Harapan (PH) however felt that the allocation of was insufficient to deal with the impact, and suggested a sum of RM90 billion instead.
“However, PN federal government had then been rather adamant with the RM45 billion sum being sufficient and had refused to even consider the RM90 billion proposal by PH members of parliament.
“But now, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is struggling with a severe lack of funding. Not only the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) issued a statement on October 18 urging the federal government to release emergency funds in order to manage the worsening situation in Sabah, the MOH had to also reactivate its special Covid-19 account to solicit donations from the public and offering tax reliefs,” he said.
“It’s really alarming for the Sabah public health care system that, the occupancy rate of 1,018 beds across nine Covid-19 hospitals in Sabah had reached 71 per cent, and that 72 per cent of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in the state’s public hospitals were in use.
“There were positive cases in Kinarut but have been left at home for two days before being taken to the hospital for treatment,” he added.
This kind of delay which is mainly attributed to the lack of resources is unacceptable, he said.
“Enough politicking already. It would have been better if Musa Aman just stayed silent and not make the worthless attempt to defend himself.”
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