Sabah Gov T Dithers Over Health Portfolio Despite Surge In Covid 19 Cases

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The full Sabah cabinet line-up was officially sworn in on Thursday but there was no health portfolio assigned to any of the state ministers despite Sabah being the epicentre of the new Covid-19 wave in the country.
When contacted, Sabah deputy chief minister Bung Moktar Radin explained that this was to prevent the overlapping of job scopes as health is under the purview of the federal government.
However, Bung told Malaysiakini that the Sabah cabinet will discuss the matter at a meeting set for Oct 14.
“We will handle this next Wednesday... we will not add another minister (into the state cabinet) but will give the portfolio to one of the (existing) ministers,” he said.
Bung, who is also the state works minister, pointed out that unlike the previous Warisan government, there was no health portfolio during BN's time.
“We want to make sure there is no overlapping (of work). But the people will still be taken care of,” he added.
According to Bung, any information related to the Covid-19 pandemic in Sabah will be released by the newly-formed Covid-19 Disaster Management Committee which is chaired by state secretary Safar Untong.
DAP Tanjung Papat assemblyperson Frankie Poon was the health and people’s wellbeing minister in the Warisan-led government.
Malaysiakini has contacted Chief Minister Hajiji Mohd Noor for a response, who yesterday tested positive for Covid-19.




Hajiji Mohd Noor
On Oct 1, Hajiji announced that the Covid-19 Disaster Management Committee will replace the Sabah Covid-19 Command Centre which was established by the previous administration.
Aside from the formation of the new committee, there was no mention of a new state health minister.
During Warisan's state administration, three new ministries were set up - health and people’s wellbeing, education, and law and native affairs.
However, the new Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS)-led state government has decided to revert to the executive structure used during BN’s time.
Deputy Chief Minister II Jeffrey Kitingan claimed that the health portfolio has been grouped under the state Community Development and People’s Wellbeing Minister Shahelmey Yahya.

“(This portfolio) does not have executive power, so we grouped it together.
“The relevant information on Covid-19 can directly be obtained from the Covid-19 Disaster Management Committee,” he said when contacted by Malaysiakini.




Shahelmey Yahya
However, Shahelmey claimed that health was not under his portfolio. He stressed that his duty is mainly focused on people’s welfare.
“Let us wait for next Wednesday to further define the job scope. I also just received my appointment two days ago, the details (of the job scope) have not been finalised yet,” Shahelmey added.
Meanwhile, the Umno Tanjung Keramat assemblyperson recognised the seriousness of the Covid-19 outbreak in Sabah and suggested appointing an exco member to handle health issues.
“Health, education and security, all these are the responsibility of the federal government. So maybe (we) can have an exco to work closely with the federal side,” he said.
The removal of the state Health Ministry under the GRS cabinet has received criticism from DAP and PKR.




Phoong Jin Zhe
DAP Luyang assemblyperson Phoong Jin Zhe said it is inappropriate to abolish the state Health Ministry when the pandemic is getting worse.
“This is not only a sign of regression but it also shows that the state government is running away from responsibilities by giving up our rights to the federal government,” said the former state youth and sports minister in a statement on Thursday.
Sabah PKR chief Christina Liew also expressed disappointment over the unwarranted absence of a health minister in the state cabinet.
"Universally, health is a major area of concern. Right now, we are being dealt another severe blow as Sabah goes through the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the highest number of cases in the country,” the Api-Api assemblyperson said in a statement yesterday. 
Previously, Malaysiakini reported that the GRS government was slammed for being slow to disclose new Covid-19 data for the state as compared with the previous administration.
The Sabah Health Department was also criticised for sharing less detailed Covid-19 data, based on districts, instead of sub-district data which was available to the public during the previous Warisan government. - Mkini

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