Rakyat more important: Shafie
Published on: Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said he is more concerned about the rakyat rather than matters concerning his predecessor Tan Sri Musa Aman. "A lot of money has been missing, the rakyat is more important, a lot of land has been taken, I can spell it out within 100 days how much money has been taken and how many land has been taken," he told the media when asked about the former Chief Minister, Tuesday. Asked if the State Government is considering to allow Musa to extend his oath taking deadline, Shafie said:ADVERTISEMENT
"Under the law, I can't repeal the State Constitution, it quite clearly spells out that where the person fails to take oath within a certain period, automatically that area has to be announced as a vacant area and a by-election must be held."I can't do that because it is under the Constitution, we can't repeal the Constitution unless we have this assembly and that is quite clear," he said. When pressed if he has any information on when Musa will be back, Shafie said "Well, I just read the paper, the speculations has been there months ago, that he will be coming back very soon, we don't know how soon is that."But whatever it is, what is important is the law must prevail in this country for those who have breached the law, be it Immigration Act, Police Act, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act.
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He said there is no immunity for any individual in this country and that the law is supposed to be colour blind."I am quite sure I think many of the Malaysians who have voted Pakatan Harapan, who have voted Warisan led government to ensure that we have to install , preserve and not only enhance the institutions capacity.
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"There have been a lot of questions about not only in terms of judiciary system, system of policing in this country whether we have followed the laws and the rules of the country and I think this has been questioned much during the last elections. "What is important now is the need for us to uphold that to ensure that law must prevail so there shouldn't be any immunity to any individual. "They can always make a comeback this is their country, but make sure that the law must be there." Asked if he thinks Musa is really sick based on the photo which went viral showing him (Musa) on what appeared to be a hospital bed, Shafie said "I am not sure I am not a doctor, I can't say anything let alone I have never seen him, I have never heard anything, there is no medical report that has been given to us."But by the look of the picture (that went viral), he has this stick (walking cane) on his bed, you know you are ill, you don't need that … you need crutches, you need wheelchair if you are really sick. "People who are sick have a lot of grey hair like me, but some people don't even have grey hair," he said. He said a sick person if found guilty should be punished, adding that there are people who are sick in the prison and doctors will be brought to treat them. "If all the sick people in our prisons are taken out of prison, they will be free. Those who seek treatment must get the treatment. I was remanded, I asked for medical health and was operated on. "He has to come back to take his oath in spite of operations done," he said. Musa has to take his oath of office as Sungai Sibuga Assemblyman by Sept 11 or vacate the seat. On Aug 15, Sabah State Assembly Speaker Datuk Syed Abas Syed Ali ruled that Musa must be sworn in as assemblyman within three months of the first sitting of the new State Assembly as per the state constitution. The new Sabah State Assembly sat for the first time on June 11, after the 14th general election on May 9. Musa, who is also Sabah Barisan Nasional chairman, was sworn in as chief minister on May 10 after obtaining a simple majority but it was shortlived when several BN assemblymen switched allegiance to Parti Warisan Sabah president Shafie, who then became the new chief minister. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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