KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman today broke his silence in an open letter to respond to criticism and allegations thrown at him that he was responsible for the spike of Covid-19 in the country.
Musa said he was compelled to write the letter to set the record straight that neither he nor 32 assemblymen who expressed their support for him on July 29, were the root cause of the escalation in Covid-19 cases in Malaysia.
Instead, he said Warisan Plus should admit to the real reason for the spike in Covid-19 cases instead of blaming him and the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government.
Musa said, following Warisan Plus' defeat in the recently-concluded 16th state election, opposition leaders, including DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, have been blaming him for attempting to overthrow Warisan president Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, which eventually led to the snap polls.
"DAP's (Seputeh) Member of Parliament Teresa Kok insisted that the Sabah polls were first triggered by me, Musa Aman, because I tried to topple the Warisan Plus government by forming a 'backdoor government' and further accused that my action was the 'original sin' that led to the surge in cases.
"Had Warisan-Plus won the recent Sabah snap election, I highly doubt any of its party leaders would even touch on the pandemic issue," said Musa in the letter.
He said leaders of Warisan Plus had fully supported Shafie in advising the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin to dissolve the Sabah State Assembly on July 30 to pave the way for snap polls.
He said Warisan Plus and Pakatan Harapan need to stop "lying to themselves and the people on who is the real backdoor government in Sabah."
"It is Shafie whom in a widely circulated video said he would rather die than hand back power to me, which is ironic because he was the one who stole the government from us in the first place, right after GE14.
"Shafie pushed for the (16th state) election because he realised he had lost the confidence of the majority of his assemblymen.
"Instead of being a gentleman about it, he chose to be reckless by advising (Juhar) to dissolve the assembly and go to the polls despite knowing the repercussions of doing so amid a pandemic.
"He had a choice to resign responsibly or recklessly plunge Sabah into an election during the Covid-19 pandemic. He made his choice. It was wrong and selfish," said Musa.
He noted that in other states, Menteris Besar and chief ministers have acted responsibly and resigned when their governments fell following a change in leadership in Putrajaya earlier in February.
Musa said he was deeply saddened by the events that followed after the election, noting that certain points must be made so that the situation is clarified and the public can properly evaluate where responsibility lies for the catastrophe.
Musa reiterated that neither he nor the 32 assemblymen who supported him had the power to request for a dissolution of the State Legislative Assembly, adding that the election was caused by an ill-advised dissolution of the State Legislative Assembly.
"Given the danger to the lives of Sabahans, we had instructed our lawyers to seek a stay of the election as it was perilous to hold elections in pandemic conditions.
"Our lead counsel pleaded this at length in both the Court of Appeal and Federal Court and begged the court to stay the elections as we did not want to endanger the lives of our people.
"However, the counsel representing the former Chief Minister and the (Warisan-led) state government argued strongly against us and said that this was a desperate argument to stop the election. I strongly reject the contention that it was a desperate argument.
"In this respect, Shafie Apdal must explain to the people of Sabah why his Counsel resisted a stay of the election during the pandemic?
"The people of Sabah deserve an explanation from the previous government as to why the Legislative Assembly was dissolved and an election called when the Covid-19 pandemic was so grave?" he said.