KOTA KINABALU, March 9 — The Sabah state Cabinet will deliberate on posthumously renaming roads and buildings after its past leaders in tribute to their contribution.
Finance and Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said that it is appropriate to honour past leaders such as former federal minister Tan Sri Ghani Gilong and former chief minister Tan Sri Peter Lo, who had contributed not just to the state, but also to the country, by way of naming roads and buildings.
“This is something that should be considered. These two gentlemen have contributed a lot not just to Sabah but the whole country. I will definitely suggest this at the next Cabinet meeting,” he said when speaking to reporters at a press conference here.
Lo, who passed away on January 1 this year, was Sabah’s second chief minister while Ghani, who passed away on March 6 last Saturday was among Sabahans involved in the independence of Sabah and the formation of Malaysia.
Masidi said that if the state Cabinet approves, they will have to go by the book and follow procedure.
“There are guidelines to follow on renaming of roads. The state and district must agree on the change and Works Department must be informed. We can’t have different set of names of the roads. We will follow the set procedure,” he said.
“But it is appropriate to honour past leaders especially those who have passed away,” he said.
The question was posed to him after deputy chief minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan made an issue to reinstate the name of a past KadazanDusun leader and Penampang district chief OKK Lojungah Mohigil as a road here.
The road name was believed to have been changed by the City Hall under a previous administration.
Meanwhile, on a separate issue, Masidi, who is also the state government representative for Covid -19 issues, said that there was no truth to rumours of a man who passed away after imbibing alcohol following his Covid 19 jab.
Masidi said that he had not heard of the case yet, but assured the public that the vaccine was declared safe, and any death after immunisation was from other causes.
“But why consume alcohol [after receiving the vaccination] in the first place? Alcohol makes absorption unduly harder on the body. Why go through the trouble to get vaccinated then?” he said.
The alleged incident is making the rounds on social media, with the source being an unknown doctor.
