KOTA KINABALU: Past federal decisons on handling the Covid-19 crisis has forced Sabah state leaders to analyse all federal actions before adopting them, according to a states rights activist.
Malaysia Agreement 1963 activist Zainnal Ajamain said the previous federal transport minister Anthony Loke failed to close off air travel to Sabah when the pandemic was spreading across the world.
He said had Sabah suspended all flights from China on Jan 20, but Putrajaya only banned flights from Wuhan, China. Air travel between eastern and western Malaysia remained open and inter-state flights were not suspended until April.
He said Sabah’s first positive patient on March 9 was a 58-year-old man in Tawau who had attended the Sri Petaling tabligh cluster. The man died on March 20.
Zainnal said Sabah might not have faced a spread of the disease if air travel had been restricted.
State leaders are reported to be considering what action to take in the wake of Friday’s announcement by the Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, that most businesses would be allowed to reopen.
Zainnal said Sabah could have the authority to oppose the federal directive as licensing of business premises comes under state control.
Sabah UITM lecturer Tony Paridi said the state government had to be more cautious as extra precautions were needed in Sabah because of the threat of the disease spreading from Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
“The state is prioritising the lives of the people,” he said.
Former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee criticised the “deafening silence” on whether restrictions on business would be relaxed, and whether state government departments will be open on Monday.
Universiti Malaysia Sabah political science lecturer Lee Kuok Tiung said the state government must state under which laws they proposed to take action.
He said the Federal Constitution stated that federal law would prevail if any state law was inconsistent with the constitution.
However the Sabah government could use rules relating to local government to enforce something different from the federal government. - FMT
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