Govt at a standstill since Sheraton Move, say opposition MPs

February 24, 2021

KOTA KINABALU: The Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has not achieved anything despite being in power for almost a year, say two prominent opposition MPs.

On the anniversary of the “Sheraton Move” which led to the downfall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, Semporna MP Shafie Apdal and Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman issued a joint statement chastising the current administration over its failure at making any progress nor mapping out a clear agenda for the country.

Shafie, the former Sabah chief minister and Syed Saddiq, the former youth and sports minister, said that prior to PN coming to power, the public were deceived into thinking that a Malay-Muslim government minus DAP would benefit the rakyat, especially the Malay-Muslim community.

“Yet unemployment rose by 4.8% in December and this saw some 772,900 people without a job and till today there are no plans to revive the economy.

“This government has also abandoned its promise when tabling the federal budget to give laptops to 150,000 students,” they said.

Shafie and Syed Saddiq said Putrajaya’s failure to honour the promise forced parents, especially those in the B40 category, to find other means to provide the laptops for their children, including seeking help from opposition MPs.

They also took Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to task for slashing the allocation for opposition MPs as it made it difficult for them to assist their constituents who were badly-affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“In the end, the people fell victim to this Malay-Muslim government.”

The current administration, they added, also had no answer to the 30,000 businesses who were forced to shut down their operations due to various movement control orders (MCOs) implemented since March last year.

“The fact that several companies decided to relocate to neighbouring countries is proof that the PPBM-PAS-Umno collaboration in the PN government was superficial,” they said.

The duo added that the current government should be able to attract more investors as the PN government often claimed it was stable.

“Yet, it has not happened until today. Instead, this government is more focused on loyalty and are wary of each other,” they said, referring to the apparent rift between Umno and PPBM in the current government.

The PN government came to power following the collapse of the 22-month old PH administration after PPBM pulled out of the coalition shortly after the Sheraton Move.