Najib defends Umno ministers, pins blame on Muhyiddin for Covid-19 situation
Former premier Najib Abdul Razak has defended the three ministers from Umno with regard to the worsening Covid-19 situation.
According to him, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in his role as the National Security Council (NSC) chairperson should be responsible.
“At the end of the day, it is the chairperson of the NSC that makes the decisions and should hold ultimate responsibility. The buck stops there,” he told Malaysiakini.
To illustrate his point, Najib recalled the massive floods in Kelantan in 2014 when he was prime minister, which forced him to cut short his vacation.
“Before I went for the long-planned golfing and meeting session with (former US) president (Barack) Obama, my deputy (Muhyiddin) was made acting chairperson of the NSC to oversee flood relief after I had made several preparations.
“When I saw that the flood relief efforts were not up to expectations, I cut short my vacation and travelled by myself on two connecting commercial flights taking more than 30 hours, straight to Kelantan to retake charge.
“To me, that is taking personal responsibility.
“This is the same situation as the Covid-19 pandemic efforts by the government. The buck stops with the chairperson,” he added.
Following the Umno supreme council's demand for Muhyiddin to step down for, among others, failing to contain the pandemic, certain quarters, including those from the party and PAS, noted that the three Umno ministers were responsible for tackling the spread of Covid-19.
However, Najib argued that the trio – Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who oversaw the security cluster until his appointment as deputy prime minister, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba and Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin – were holding the portfolio of spokespersons for the NSC, health and vaccine.
“Their portfolios mean they have no personal interest in allowing or proposing the failed policies by the government that to me are among the main reasons for Covid-19 becoming much worse,” he added.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin
According to him, the failed policies included abolishing mandatory quarantine at government-monitored centres for foreign travellers and allowing home quarantine back in June 2020 on the basis of cost savings.
Najib claimed this was what led to the wave with the more highly contagious variant to spread in Northern Malaysia in July that year and not the Sabah election which happened three months later.
The second failed policy, he said, was to allow cross-state travel again in early December when new cases were 1,600 compared with 511 a month earlier, on the day when the Yang di-Pertuan Agong rejected the government's request for a state of emergency to be declared.
“Predictably, new cases got higher and the government requested and finally got their emergency approved a month later,” he added.
Third on his list was the reopening of schools when new cases were higher than when the government implemented the movement control order (MCO) 2.0.
“This led to Covid-19 spreading deep into society at all levels,” he added.
As for the fourth failed policy, Najib cited allowing factories to continue operating during MCO 2.0, MCO 3.0, total lockdown and now nearly a week into the enhanced MCO of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
“In fact, if you read the statement from Miti (International Trade and Industry Ministry) two days ago, they specifically said this decision was made by the PM, Miti, the finance minister and the economics minister - none of whom are from Umno.
“Given their respective portfolios, the Umno ministers have no vested interest in proposing the above policies.
“That is the reason why Ismail Sabri once made the famous remark that he had closed the front door but someone opened the back door,” he added.
Furthermore, Najib said Umno and PAS do not have members on the Economic Action Council nor hold portfolios related to finance and economy.
Based on this, he pointed out that decisions on aid for the people to cope with the crippling effects of the pandemic on the economy comes from the ruling party Bersatu and not Umno.
Therefore, he said it would be "inappropriate and irresponsible" to assign the blame to Umno for the mistakes that led to the current situation without the NSC chairperson taking any responsibility.
According to him, the failed policies included abolishing mandatory quarantine at government-monitored centres for foreign travellers and allowing home quarantine back in June 2020 on the basis of cost savings.
Najib claimed this was what led to the wave with the more highly contagious variant to spread in Northern Malaysia in July that year and not the Sabah election which happened three months later.
The second failed policy, he said, was to allow cross-state travel again in early December when new cases were 1,600 compared with 511 a month earlier, on the day when the Yang di-Pertuan Agong rejected the government's request for a state of emergency to be declared.
“Predictably, new cases got higher and the government requested and finally got their emergency approved a month later,” he added.
Third on his list was the reopening of schools when new cases were higher than when the government implemented the movement control order (MCO) 2.0.
“This led to Covid-19 spreading deep into society at all levels,” he added.
As for the fourth failed policy, Najib cited allowing factories to continue operating during MCO 2.0, MCO 3.0, total lockdown and now nearly a week into the enhanced MCO of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
“In fact, if you read the statement from Miti (International Trade and Industry Ministry) two days ago, they specifically said this decision was made by the PM, Miti, the finance minister and the economics minister - none of whom are from Umno.
“Given their respective portfolios, the Umno ministers have no vested interest in proposing the above policies.
“That is the reason why Ismail Sabri once made the famous remark that he had closed the front door but someone opened the back door,” he added.
Furthermore, Najib said Umno and PAS do not have members on the Economic Action Council nor hold portfolios related to finance and economy.
Based on this, he pointed out that decisions on aid for the people to cope with the crippling effects of the pandemic on the economy comes from the ruling party Bersatu and not Umno.
Therefore, he said it would be "inappropriate and irresponsible" to assign the blame to Umno for the mistakes that led to the current situation without the NSC chairperson taking any responsibility.
Similarly 1MDB buck stops with Jibby as PM/FM/Sole Signatory/Decision Maker. Stop blaming others.
ReplyDeleteYup, Najib never takes any responsibility for bad things that happen during his reign.
DeleteAnd Najib fanboys, wakakaka...never hold Najib accountable for bad things that happened during his PM term, always blaming other past PM instead.