KOTA KINABALU: I find the press statement by Datuk Seri Lajim bin Okin –no excuse to skip batu sapi by poll— outright insensitive to the people of Sabah and downright reckless without any duty of care to the rakyat of sabah.
We have just come in suffering the consequences of having the recent PRUN and the effects have been cause of a health crisis of cataclysmic proportions.
I don’t think Lajim’s statement reflects the thinking of the current coalition government of PN and BN in sabah. In fact Lajim should show more empathy and concern for his party chief and CM who has come down with covid 19 infectionand the victims of the disease in sabah than pushing for 60 days. What is his obsession with having the election within 60 days . in stead he should exhibit more concern and industry to eradicate covid 19 from sabah in 60 days.
He is an experienced politician and to hear this kind of statement is downright insensitive to the rakyat of sabah. Does he even think about the turnout after the obvious and abject failure of the Election Commission to ensure a safe elections. What about the safety of police forces and armed forces and health workers. He should apply his mind to this matters instead of concerned about having the elections. Although the Federal constituition stipulates that the by-election must be held within 60 days and the same was also provided in the Sabah State Constitution, this does not mean the 60 days is cast in stone. It can be extended because it is a man-made provision. If you can extend the time for repayment of loans and holding of AGM because of the pandemic, then why the 60 days cannot be extended? Why did the EC not proceed totally by postal votes or urge parliament to change the laws of elections most of which were enacted in the 1950s and 1960s and do not provide for the holding of elections in the current global pandemic.
I am also very disappointed that leave was not granted to me by the High Court in Kota Kinabalu to have the elections delayed beyond 60 days from 30th August, 2020. I am further disappointed with the stand of the Federal Attorney General to oppose my application for leave.
As a matter of fact, I was equally very disappointed with the submission of the Senior Federal Counsel as : Narkunavathy who submitted to the Court that “While the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic is real and present and of concern of all Malaysians, this application for leave for judicial review is unfortunately premised on tenuous conjecture and unsubstantiated speculation.”
It is sad that the current high figures of infection show a totally different story and it is too late to reverse the damage done to Sabah and even to Malaysia. The Attorney General is the keeper of public interest and they are supposed to be the vanguard of the welfare and well being of the public and society. The evidence was in front of them even by watching what unfolded in the United States and the Public Proclamation of the United Nation and character such as Dr Fauci. As keeper of public interest the Federal General should not have opposed my application but should have allowed it to run its full course and this could have averted the public health tragedy. As keeper of the public interest, they should not have opposed my application for opposing sake. In my application, I ask for leave for judicial review to get the Election Commission to show by Affidavit evidence and to prove to the court that they had taken all precautions to avert the public health crisis we are now in . Unfortunately, my application was not allowed. I still cannot accept the decision
Based on current figures on Sunday, more than 80% of the daily infections came from Sabah. And it looks like it will take a long time before we can flatten the curve.
We had produced all the research during the hearing of elections held in other jurisdiction such as Poland and South Korea and Singapore.
In all these countries, the governments enacted new laws and safety measures and even delayed the voting process whereas in the Sabah State election, the Election Commission just went ahead without first ensuring that the condition were absolutely safe . During the campaigning period, many of the parties held ceramah without social distancing. They just paid lip service to the safety requirements quoting the words “ follow the SOP like a mantra without proper attention to the implementation . Many of the places where the ceramah were held, were packed with people and there was no social distancing.
To fight the virus, there are 3 pillars, the 1st and 2nd is washing or sanitizing your hands and wearing a face mask. These were complied with but the 3rd pillar , the social distancing of 1 metre and no crowded and confined spaces were just thrown to the wind. What happen to the rakyat and political leaders? Some of them even said that Covid 19 is a joke and a hoax and took public health for granted and of course on election day with people coming from all over Sabah to polling stations created the perfect storm for the disaster that is now upon us.
When I filed this application, I went through a great deal of persecution being lambasted and threatened in social media such as Facebook and a false police report was even lodged against me but the police did not accept the report because the person who made it had only hearsay information. However, I bear no evil against these people and Sabahans and Malaysians now need to be united and obey the new government directives to fight this disease and to pray to God for deliverance from this pandemic.-Marcel Jude of STAR
