AT the height of the Covid-19 crisis, villager Alicia Joseph filled out forms issued by the Warisan Plus government in the hope of receiving the RM300 aid.

Sabah under Mohd Shafie Apdal promised Sabahans, especially rural folk, they would receive a one-off payment of RM300 to make up for the loss of income they suffered.

“But we filled out forms and waited and waited. Till this day, only a handful in my village received the cash. But when it comes to the Prihatin aid, we all received it,” said Alicia, an entrepreneur from Kg Mangkaladoi in Tamparuli.

In the Sabah elections, the absence of that aid is a key weapon that Warisan Plus’ enemies, especially Perikatan Nasional, are using against the former state administration, which is seeking another term.

PN hopes to leverage on the widespread public approval of its policies to tackle the pandemic to swing support away from Warisan.

Independent pollster Merdeka Centre in its latest survey shows there is an overall 93% satisfaction rate among 3,415 voters polled, on how PN is handling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Warisan Plus, PN said, cannot be trusted to rule Sabah as it was selective about helping and its response to Covid-19 is a good example.

On its part, Warisan Plus said more than 343,000 individuals, comprising farmers, fishermen, senior citizens and the poor have received the one-off handout totalling RM65.24 million.

In April, Shafie announced an extra RM553 allocated to programmes to help those whose incomes were affected by the pandemic and the movement-control order (MCO).

Another villager, Zaitus, criticised its food basket programme.

“They said it was RM100 worth of food but when we received these baskets, we think it was only about RM40,” said Zaitus of Kg Guakon, who declined to give his full name.

“The amount of rice and flour was less than what you would get had you paid for it yourself at the supermarket.”

Other villagers repeated the complaints that Warisan promised aid during the pandemic but failed to deliver up until today.

Erry Utoi of Kg Mengkabong said he applied online and filling out forms but has yet to receive a response.

“When I went to the state government to ask, they said my application was rejected because I did not qualify.”

The villagers met by The Malaysian Insight said the state government didn’t stipulate that only the poor or those below a certain income threshold could qualify.

“They did not say that we had to be poor or a single mother. They said everyone could apply,” said Alicia.

“Besides practically every family in the villager received RM1,600 from the Bantuan Prihatin scheme, so it means that we should qualify.”

PN gave out RM1,600 in a one-off cash handout to B40 families while M40 households received RM1,000.

PN, which faces off against Warisan Plus in 29 seats in the Sabah elections, boasts of the success of its Prihatin programme against Warisan Plus’s RM300 scheme.

At a PN rally recently in Kg Bolong Baru in Sulaman, coalition information chief Azmin Ali flayed Warisan for not delivering on its Covid-19 aid scheme.

“Now the federal Perikatan government is increasing welfare aid by RM1,000. How is Warisan going to beat that when it can’t even properly give out RM300?” said Azmin, who is also senior minister for economic affairs.

Mydin Sapai of Kg Tembalang suspects that only those tied to Warisan Plus or village officials aligned to them received the cash handouts.

“They took down the names, addresses and IC numbers of about 100 families in the village. Almost all did not receive the cash except for one or two villagers who we think are their people,” said Mydin.

“That is why I tell my family and friends. Don’t trust Warisan. These people lied to us.” – September 16, 2020.