KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — The Perikatan Nasional (PN) government should stop politicking and focus all available resources on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah, DAP’s Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang said today.
This comes as Sabah reported 643 new Covid-19 cases and three related deaths yesterday.
In a statement today, Lim said despite Sabah becoming the epicentre of the third wave of Covid-19 in Malaysia, the prime minister and the Cabinet appear engrossed in the “Malaysian Game of Thrones” instead of the plight in Sabah.
“The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin, had said that the containment of Covid-19 in and from Sabah was delayed due to unavoidable reasons.
“What were these ‘unavoidable reasons’ that allowed the cumulative total of Covid-19 infections in Sabah to skyrocket from 426 cases and eight fatalities on September 1 to 8,082 cases and 64 fatalities yesterday?” he asked.
Lim also pinned the blame on former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman for the spike in cases in the Borneon state.
He said that Musa, during his 15-year stint as chief minister, had spearheaded policies that left the state impoverished in terms of public poverty and infrastructure development, despite the state’s large wealth.
Lim also said that despite Umno — the party Musa Aman belongs to — in 1994 promising to reduce poverty, eliminate illiteracy and eradicate corruption, among other things, little had been done.
“Will the new Sabah state government led by Chief Minister Hajiji Mohd Noor pledge to fulfil these pledges 26 years ago?” he said.
On September 26, Sabah held a snap state election, with campaigning beginning on September 12.
The election has been largely blamed for the recent rise in cases, with public anger also directed at politicians such as Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin who had not adhered to regular standard operating procedures (SOP).
