DAP Senator Adrian Lasimbang has lambasted former chief minister Musa Aman for his open letter in which he blamed the spike of Covid-19 cases in the state on his successor, Warisan president Shafie Apdal and his Pakatan Harapan Plus allies.
"Everybody knows the whole political fiasco in Sabah was triggered by Musa and his operatives' move to lure assemblypersons into forming a backdoor government in Sabah.
"Whatever happens after that is a result of this action. It is a clear-cut situation, and there is no need for a long and winding explanation."
Sabah recorded 643 new cases yesterday, around three-quarters of those reported in Malaysia and the state has 61 Covid-19 fatalities. The numbers surged after the Sabah state election on Sept 26 and both sides are trading accusations over who is to blame.
Lasimbang (above), who is also DAP Sabah Political Education director said Musa never considered the risk to the rakyat.
"Did he ever consider that his move might have implications to the people when trying to take over government during the pandemic, especially the risk in changing government when we really need to have a fully functioning government?"
In his open letter, Musa dismissed the allegation as slander and targeted Shafie instead.
“He (Shafie) had a choice - to resign responsibly or recklessly plunge Sabah into an election during the Covid-19 pandemic. He made his choice. It was wrong and selfish,” Musa said.
He also pointed out that Harapan Plus had supported Shafie in advising the Sabah governor to dissolve the state legislative assembly.
Lasimbang tore into the new administration led by Hajiji Mohd Noor for removing the state Health portfolio.
"There's a lot of restructuring happening. The new government even made the decision to terminate the ketua kampungs and the native chiefs immediately. Now, who is monitoring the situation in the villages and facilitating any government assistance?"
He said Musa was like a thief who tried and failed to steal chickens but blamed a guard dog for barking too loud when the whole village woke up.
Lasimbang's party comrade Lim Kit Siang was equally lyrical, quoting Shakespeare's by stating "the lady doth protest too much" in replying to Musa.
"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," Lim said today.
The Iskandar Puteri MP went on to slam Musa for failing to develop the state during his long tenure of 15 years as chief minister from 2003 to 2018.
“Sabah is the poorest state in the country, both in terms of poverty of the people and infrastructure development of the state," said Lim.
Meanwhile, another DAP man, Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin (above) called Musa's open letter annoying.
"Musa Aman's ‘open letter to the people of Malaysia’ can only be described as being obnoxious and demeaning, especially when issued three weeks after Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), the loose coalition of PN, BN and PBS, have won the state election and formed the Sabah government. Enough is enough," said Chan in a statement.
"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?"
Chan said Musa's denial of liability is absolutely not welcomed and that he should take a leaf from another former Sabah chief minister Salleh Said Keruak who had reminded politicians to focus on tackling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic instead of engaging in self-serving politicking.
"What Salleh said is true, that the people are starting to see politicians as being greedy and selfish. The people are tired of them politicking 24 hours a day, 365 days a year," said Chan.
He called on the state leadership to urge the Federal Government to expedite the gazetting process for the RM45 billion Covid-19 bill which has been passed in Parliament in August so that the funds 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 Covid-19 positive patients.
On Aug 25, the 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.
"Even then, the Pakatan Harapan MPs, including myself, felt that the allocation of RM45 billion was insufficient to deal with the impact of Covid-19. In return, we had suggested a sum of RM90 billion instead.
"But now, the Health Ministry is struggling with a severe lack of funding," said Chan, citing the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) statement urging the federal government to release emergency funds in order to manage the worsening situation in Sabah.
He added that it was 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 percent, and that 72 percent of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in the state’s public hospitals were in use.
"There were positive cases in Kinarut, but they have been left at home for two days before being taken to the hospital for treatment. This kind of delay, which is mainly attributed to the lack of resources, is unacceptable," said Chan. - Mkini
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