KOTA KINABALU - Sabahans have directed their fury at politicians, especially former chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman for the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in the state.
“Why couldn’t Musa just let (Warisan leader) Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal complete his term?,” Ivy Yap, 30, told The Vibes.
“He should have just waited for the 15 General Election to be called. Power hungry! Now Sabahans are the ones who are suffering.”
The sharp increase in Covid-19 cases in the state has been attributed partly to the September 26 elections, which was necessitated by Musa’s attempt to topple Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal’s Warisan-led state government.
On July 29, Musa claimed he had the simple majority to form the next Sabah state government, after engineering the defections of a few assemblymen to his camp.
Jo Nandu, 41, said Musa’s attempt to overthrow Shafie’s government left the latter with no choice but to dissolve the state assembly, paving the way for the state elections.
The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) alliance comprising Perikatan Nasional (PN), Barisan Nasional (BN) and Parti Bersatu Sabah which Musa was aligned to won the Sabah poll against the Warisan Plus.
“Under the administration of Warisan, Shafie as chief minister took the initiative to manage Sabah's own Covid-19 problem by setting up the Sabah Command Centre for Covid-19 (SCCC).
“We could see daily updates of Covid-19 cases going down. Information was widely shared and reached millions of Sabahan. The government then was able to avert widespread confusion and panic like what is happening right now,” he said.
As of today, Sabah has recorded 4,621 Covid-19 cases, and 35 deaths have been reported.
Chemist Azye Sheila, 30, said Shafie did the right thing by calling for an election when he no longer commanded the state assembly majority, while accounts clerk Steven Ong from Sandakan, blamed both Shafie and Musa for the Covid-19 situation in Sabah right now.
Former reporter Kent Ho echoed Sheila, saying all politicians were to blame for not adhering to the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOP) when campaigning for the polls
Engineer, Alfred Simon, 45, said the state election ensured Sabah would not be ruled by a “backdoor government”.
“I feel Musa should have waited until Shafie’s term was over. However, if the election was not held, Sabahans might not have been able to stop Musa from becoming chief minister again. He had already ruled Sabah for 15 years,” he said. – The Vibes, October 13, 2020.
