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 me and the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government.
Had Warisan Plus won the recent Sabah snap election, I highly doubt any of its party leaders would even touch on the pandemic issue.
Dissatisfied with their election loss, today we see an onslaught of finger-pointing by Warisan Plus and Pakatan Harapan (PH) 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 elections.
In DAP’s continuous attempt to mislead the people, its MP Teresa Kok insisted that the Sabah polls were first triggered by me, Musa Aman, because I tried to topple the Warisan Plus government by forming a “backdoor government” and further accused my action was the “original sin” that led to the surge in cases.
I wish to remind Teresa Kok, PH and whoever its leader is, that it was the coalition comprising DAP, PKR and Amanah that fully supported Shafie in advising the governor to dissolve the Sabah state assembly, paving the way for snap elections.
Real backdoor government
It is Shafie who, in a widely circulated video, said he would rather die than hand back power to me, which is ironic because he was the one who stole the government from us in the first place, shortly after GE14.
Warisan Plus and PH need to stop lying to themselves and the people on which is the real backdoor government in Sabah.
Shafie pushed for the elections because he realised he had lost the confidence of the majority of his assemblymen. Instead of being a gentleman about it, he chose to be reckless by advising the governor 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 menteris 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 country has since seen a massive increase in the number of new Covid infections with hundreds of new cases daily.
I am deeply saddened by these terrible and tragic events and I believe that certain points must be made so that the situation is clarified and the public can properly evaluate where responsibility lies for this catastrophe.
I wish to state, at the outset, that neither the 32 former assemblymen who expressed their support for me to form the state government on July 29 nor I, ever sought a dissolution of the state legislative assembly or an election amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
More importantly, neither the 32 nor I had the power to request for a dissolution of the state legislative assembly.
Stay of election
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 elections 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 elections as we did not want to endanger the lives of our people.
However, 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 elections. I strongly reject the contention that it was a desperate argument.
In this respect, Shafie Apdal must explain to the people of Sabah why his counsel resisted a stay of the elections during the pandemic?
The people of Sabah deserve an explanation from the previous government as to why the legislative assembly was dissolved and elections 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 (assemblymen) who supported me and I, that we caused the spike in the Covid-19 cases in Sabah and the rest of Malaysia.
Musa Aman is the former chief minister of Sabah.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.