STEP DOWN IF YOU'RE INCAPABLE OF LEADING, EWON TELLS MUHYIDDIN
9 July 2021
By Wartwan Nabalu News
KOTA KINABALU: Vice President of the United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (Upko) Datuk Ewon Benedick said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should step down if he is no longer capable of leading the nation.
In a statement, the State Assemblyman for Kadamaian asserted that the prime minister has failed as the country's chief administrator in crisis management.
He said the failure can be seen in various matters, especially in the provision of vaccine supplies in Sabah, in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, and the people's assistance programme.
"In the context of Sabah, I do not see the priority given by Muhyiddin, especially in terms of vaccine supplies which forces the state government to keep imploring the federal government.
"During the state election last year, he was boasting about how the development of Sabah would be smooth if the state government is in line with the federal government. But when it comes to the management of the Covid-19 crisis, Sabah is sidelined in the vaccination programme," he said.
Ewon also questioned why there was no effort by the federal government to deploy its machinery to campaign to provide vaccines throughout Sabah when during the Sabah election, there had been no problem in deploying machinery from all over the Peninsula.
"Sabah is also lagging behind in the administration of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) that the chief minister of Sabah has to issue his own announcement, which did not get immediate approval from the Nasional Security Council (NSC)," he added.
Ewon stated that Muhyiddin is the NSC Chairman who is supposedly responsible for making decisions on the Movement Control Order (MCO) and SOPs,
"In fact, it is very sad, there are Vaccination Centers (PPV) that had to be closed and the vaccination schedule was cancelled due to lack of vaccines."
Muhyiddin's failure as a leader was also acknowledged by Umno, the government's component party, he added.
“Just look at the many SOPs that have been around since they were introduced. Just look at the failure of the Emergency Ordinance in lowering the number of Covid-19 infection cases.
"Besides that, the economic downturn in the country, including the performance of the exchange, an increase in the number of suicide cases due to the pressure faced on the failures, and the weakness of the aid programmes, causing people to turn on each other for help," he noted.
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