Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee
KOTA KINABALU (Oct 4): Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee has reminded the newly elected Perikatan Nasional-led state government that all eyes will be on them as they tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yong, in a statement today opined that the PN-led state government will be judged on how it can revive the economy, how it tackles this second wave of Covid-19 pandemic and hot issues like illegal immigrants, the proposed Papar dam and land reforms.
He opined that Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor had a good start by a firm declaration that government will focus on economic revival.
Unfortunately, he said this was followed by the government’s first misstep which caused widespread confusion whether there was a ‘lock down’ or merely restrictions on inter-district travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Noting that different standard operating procedures were announced and then withdrawn without any explanation, he said this was unfortunate because the worst thing that can happen in a crisis management is confusion.
“Therefore, I urge both the federal and state governments to get their act together, overcome the shortcomings and correct the mistakes of the Warisan-led government. We should learn from the past mistakes of the previous government instead of repeating the mistakes,” said the former Sabah Chief Minister.
Unlike in March this year when the coronavirus first started and governments all over the world had little experience in combating the pandemic, Yong said by now all countries have acquired sufficient knowledge of what the virus is about and have experience in managing the crisis, including the economic consequences.
Therefore, he said both the federal and the Sabah state governments have no excuse that this second phase of Covid-19 is more difficult to tackle than the first phase.
According to him, during the enforcement of the various stages of the Movement Control Order (MCO) from March onwards this year, the people were confused by the apparent insistence of the then-Warisan state government to deviate from federal decisions to ease the MCO like removing road blocks and extending business opening hours.
“But now, the federal and the state governments belong to the same alliance, an advantage that Gabungan Rakyat Sabah has promised the people of Sabah.
“I also repeat my previous statements that the authorities must closely and urgently engage stakeholders such as chambers of commerce, business associations, tourism and restaurant operators, professional bodies, transport organisations and consumer groups in order to get accurate feedback from these stakeholders so that the MCO rules that government officers draw up are correct and practical.
“I give an example of how the Sabah Law Society, of which I am a member, had to seek clarifications from the government on how the latest MCO affected law firms, most of which are barely surviving. The issue is not only whether law firms are allowed to open but also the functioning of critical departments like land, stamp duty, the courts and commercial banks,” he said.
Seven months into the Covid-19 crisis, Yong said the authorities should have, by now, close communications with stakeholders, adding that stakeholders can give useful feedback and experience to the authorities so that the government can design policies and MCO rules that can protect both the health of the people and the economic well-being of the country.