PARTI Warisan has urged Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) leaders not to blame the civil service for their own mistakes.
The call came amid the political pressure for Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor to act against the state Attorney General's office after last week’s court blunder.
Warisan Information Chief Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman said the civil servants were merely carrying out the duties set for them by the ruling government.
“A wise government would not use such tactics to shift attention from their problems by blaming others to cover up their weaknesses and failures.
“If government leaders are incompetent, do not make civil servants the scapegoat,” he said in a statement in Kota Kinabalu today.
He said the Sabah Attorney-General, Datuk Nor Asiah Mohd Yusof, held a senior position and her role includes advising and executing instructions of the chief minister himself.
He said that includes appointing Tengku Fuad Ahmad to represent the Sabah government in court on the judicial review of Sabah’s 40% revenue entitlement case.
Fuad was believed to have been behind the alleged blunder in court.
He allegedly described Sabah’s 40% revenue entitlement as “aspirational” and that it was not an “absolute right” during the Federal Government's appeal to set aside a High Court decision in granting leave to the Sabah Law Society (SLS) to pursue a judicial review on the state’s revenue entitlement on May 16.
The Sabah government had dismissed Fuad’s assertion and demanded that these “misguided statements” be corrected following a public uproar caused by the incident.
GRS leaders confronted Hajiji at a meeting on May 17 and some have demanded the removal of the Sabah AG from office. Hajiji is the GRS chairman.
USNO President Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia had also called for the entire Sabah administration to be overhauled and pointed out the flaw behind the controversy.
He recalled Hajiji at their meeting on May 17 saying he had no knowledge of Fuad’s appointment but discovered later a letter of Fuad's appointment to represent the state by the Sabah Attorney-General.
The Sabah AG was abroad on a working visit when the whole episode unfolded.
Local non-governmental organisation Bersama Kita Peduli, led by Juriah Uda Sulai, also called on the state government not to make the Sabah AG a scapegoat.
The court of appeal will meet again tomorrow (May 24) for case management. – The Vibes, May 23, 2024
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