FORMER Sabah chief minister Mohd Shafie Apdal told the Dewan Rakyat today he had to dissolve the state assembly as he was not willing to surrender the state to those who believed “cash is king”.

“Sabah’s Covid-19 situation would’ve been under control if Perikatan Nasional (PN) did not try to take the state by force,” said the Semporna MP.

He said he was also surprised by Najib Razak’s suggestion he was willing to die of Covid-19.

“I am not willing to die of Covid-19. But I’m also not willing to surrender power to those who believe that ‘cash is king’… to buy over assemblymen for power.

“But to hand over power, I’d rather die on the political battlefield,” said the Parti Warisan Sabah president.

“Once the rakyat decided who is in power, we had to accept that,” said Shafie.

Shafie was responding to Mohamad Alamin (Kimanis-BN), who asked whether the former regretted dissolving the state assembly for state elections in September.

Mohamad, a newly elected MP, has repeatedly posed the same question to Warisan lawmakers as PN insisted it was not to blame for the Sabah elections.

PN had tried to take over Sabah in July after luring more than a dozen assemblymen to cross over. But Sabah Governor Juhar Mahiruddin agreed to Shafie’s request to dissolve the state assembly, paving for elections in September.

Since then, the elections have been blamed for the spike in Covid-19 cases that began at the illegal immigrant detention centre in Tawau.

In the ensuing elections, Warisan and its allies failed to win back the state as it could only win 29 seats against the 38 of PN and Barisan Nasional. – November 16, 2020.