He said the newly elected government will be judged on how well it managed the Covid-19 outbreak as well as the economy.

“The chief minister (Hajiji Noor) had a good start with a firm declaration that the government will focus on economic revival.

“Unfortunately, this was followed by the government’s first misstep, which caused widespread confusion, on whether there was a lockdown or merely restrictions on inter-district travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Different SOPs were announced and then withdrawn without any explanation. This was unfortunate because the worst thing that can happen in crisis management is confusion,” he said in a statement today.

Yong said the state and the federal governments must work together to overcome any weaknesses and improve on past mistakes of the previous government led by Warisan.

“During the enforcement of the various stages of the movement control order (MCO) from March, the people were confused by the insistence of the then Warisan Sabah state government to deviate from federal decisions to ease the MCO, like removing roadblocks and extending business opening hours.

“But now, the federal and the state governments belong to the same alliance — an advantage that GRS has promised the people of Sabah.”

He was also confident that the current government would be able to manage another wave of Covid-19, based on the past experience of handling the pandemic since March.

He said the authorities should have established close engagement with stakeholders by now.

“Stakeholders can give useful feedback to the authorities so that the government can design policies and rules that can protect both the health of the people and the economic well-being of the country.”

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