In open letter, Musa Aman blames 'reckless' Shafie and allies for Covid-19 surge

 

Musa Aman has penned an open letter to Malaysians to respond to the allegation that he is responsible for the spike of Covid-19 cases in the state and nationwide due to his attempted political coup, which resulted in a snap election.

The former Sabah chief minister dismissed the allegation as slander and pinned the blamed on his successor, Warisan president Shafie Apdal and his Pakatan Harapan Plus allies 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.

Below is Musa Aman's letter in full:

I am compelled to write this letter to set the record straight on the root cause of the escalation in Covid-19 cases in Malaysia and open the people’s eyes to lies and slander perpetrated by a well-oiled propaganda machine called Warisan Plus.

Warisan Plus should admit the real reason for the spike in Covid-19 cases in Sabah and the rest of the nation instead of blaming the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government and me.

Had the Warisan-Plus won the recent Sabah snap election, I highly doubt any of its party leaders would even touch the pandemic issue.

Dissatisfied with their election loss, today we see an onslaught of finger-pointing by Warisan Plus and Harapan Plus leaders including DAP supremo, Lim Kit Siang, who conveniently stated it was my attempt to overthrow Warisan president, Shafie Apdal that led to the state election.

In DAP’s continuous attempt to mislead the people, Teresa Kok insisted that the Sabah polls were first triggered by me because I tried to topple the Warisan Plus government by forming a “backdoor government” and further accused my action as the “original sin” that led to the surge in cases.

I wish to remind Teresa, Harapan Plus and whoever its leader is, that it was the coalition comprising DAP, PKR and Amanah that fully supported Shafie in advising the TYT (governor) to dissolve the Sabah state assembly, paving the way for a snap election.

Warisan and Harapan Plus need to stop lying to themselves and the people on which is the real backdoor government in Sabah.

Shafie pushed for the election because he realised he had lost the confidence of the majority of his assemblypersons. Instead of being a gentleman about it, he chose to be reckless by advising the TYT to dissolve the assembly and go to the polls despite knowing the repercussions of doing so amid a pandemic.

He 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.

Unlike Shafie, other menteri besar and chief ministers acted responsibly and honourably - they resigned. None chose to endanger the citizens of their respective states.

Since the elections, Sabah and the rest of the country have since seen a massive increase in the number of new Covid-19 infections with hundreds of new cases daily.

The election was caused by an ill-advised dissolution of the state legislative assembly.

Given the danger to the lives of Sabahans, we had instructed our lawyers to seek a stay of the election as it was perilous to hold an election in pandemic conditions.

Our lead counsel pleaded this at length in both the Court of Appeal and Federal Court and begged the courts to stay the election as we did not want to endanger the lives of our people.

However, the counsel representing the former chief minister and the government of Sabah argued strongly against us and said that this was a desperate argument to stop the election. I strongly reject the contention that it was a desperate argument.

In this respect, Shafie must explain to the people of Sabah why his counsel resisted a stay of the election during the pandemic?

The people of Sabah deserve an explanation from the previous government as to why the legislative assembly was dissolved and an election called when the Covid-19 pandemic was so grave?

Clearly, the responsibility for the massive spike in the Covid-19 cases rests with those who caused an election by dissolving the state legislative assembly.

I reject the vile slander and baseless allegations made against those who supported me and mine, that we caused the spike in the Covid pandemic in Sabah and the rest of Malaysia. - Mkini