Dzul Maybe Ex Home Minister Muhyiddin Too Focused Elsewhere To Realise Tabligh Event

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CORONAVIRUS | Former health minister Dr Dzulkelfly Ahmad said Covid-19 management was hijacked by the "Sheraton Move" and the time it took for new Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to appoint his cabinet
Dzulkefly said Muhyiddin (above, left), as the former home minister, was the best person to have been aware of the tabligh gathering but could have been too focused on another "agenda" at the time to realise the matter
The tabligh gathering, eventually linked to over 40 percent of the total positive coronavirus cases in the country, was attended by over 16,000 people and took place at the Masjid Jamek mosque in Sri Petaling in Kuala Lumpur from Feb 28 to March 3
Malaysia had been without a government due to the Sheraton Move, led, in part, by Muhyiddin, from Feb 24 to Feb 29, when he was eventually sworn in as the eighth prime minister
Dzulkefly’s statement came following accusation by his successor, Health Minister Dr Adham Baba, that the previous government had failed to prevent the tabligh cluster
“If there was a minister more aware of the situation on the tabligh gathering, it would have been the home minister, who is now the eighth prime minister. The health minister should ask him (Muhyiddin) if he wishes to know the basis of his claim that the Pakatan Harapan government failed to control the gathering
“Maybe the eighth prime minister was not aware (of the tabligh gathering that was going to take place then) as there was a more serious agenda taking away his focus from work at the time,” Dzulkefly said on a Facebook posting last night
“Truly, it was so disappointing, but the focus to manage the Covid-19 crisis was hijacked by the 'Sheraton Move’
“On Feb 29, Muhyiddin was appointed prime minister, was sworn-in on March 1, and was only able to form a cabinet on March 9, therefore, causing more than two weeks of Covid-19 management to be without political leadership and strategy compared to before,” the posting read
The Sheraton Move refers to the mass defections by Bersatu and several PKR MPs, led by Muhyiddin and then PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, from Harapan to form a new coalition, the Perikatan Nasional, with Umno, PAS, GPS and other minor parties
The defecting MPs had initially gathered at Sheraton Hotel in Petaling Jaya on Feb 23, hence the name
Nonetheless, Dzulkefly, who now leads the Covid-19 task force for Selangor, credited Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (above) for his leadership during the “dark days of Malaysian politics”
The posting came just hours after he spoke to Malaysiakini on Adham’s statement
The Kuala Selangor MP told Malaysakini that instead of appropriating blame, the current minister should instead be providing stewardship and strategic leadership to complement Noor Hisham’s role
Among others, he added the minister should also focus on coming up with an “exit strategy” to ease Malaysia out of the movement control order (MCO) and manage the demand for personal protective equipment such as face shields, aprons, and gowns needed by medical frontliners
- Mkini

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