PETALING JAYA: Former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak
(pic) has spoken out against DAP for blaming Umno for the surge of Covid-19 cases after the Sabah elections.
He said the opposition party should look at their own actions and those of Warisan, led by Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, before accusing him and Umno of causing the elections to be held and thus creating a Covid-19 crisis.
He said Assemblyman Tan Sri Musa Aman of Sabah Umno, who led a group against Warisan’s leadership, had never wanted state elections to take place as he recognised the danger of the pandemic.
“In fact, he tried to stop the State elections three times in court. Unfortunately, he was not successful all three times, up to the Federal Court,” Najib wrote Sunday.
However, the Pakatan Harapan leadership comprising DAP, PKR and Amanah had fully supported the Warisan President (Shafie), who was then Chief Minister, in his call for snap elections.
DAP also failed to point out that the main reason for the State elections being called “was that Shafie said he would rather die than to hand back power to the person he stole it from in the first place, despite being told that a Covid-19 resurgence in Sabah was already taking place”, Najib said.
“DAP should also point out that it was Shafie who gave his guarantee to the people of Sabah that Covid-19 would be under control during the snap elections and that the risks would be low.
“Please point out too that the record shows that I had also objected to Shafie calling for snap state elections, while PH gave it their full support citing ‘Shafie’s bravery’,” he said.
He also said it was Seputeh MP Teresa Kok of DAP who had objected to a 14-day quarantine order on those returning from Sabah, saying such a rule was against democracy and was designed to deter voters from voting.
Najib’s remarks come in the wake of an article on the DAP website on Saturday, based on a statement by DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang, which accused Najib of seeking to blame PPBM while ignoring Umno’s role in the third wave of Covid-19.
The article said it was Musa’s attempt to overthrow Shafie that led to the State elections, and also mentioned an Umno leader who purportedly was the reason for a market being shut after he became infected with Covid-19.
Najib said: “DAP should tell the full story of what actually happened instead of trying to blame me or Umno for the State elections.”
