PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has hit out at the Perikatan Nasional-led government over the spike in Covid-19 cases after the Sabah election.
In a Facebook post, Mahathir blamed the “backdoor” government for forcing a state election in Sabah by trying to wrest power from the Warisan Plus coalition through a coup.
“To avoid this from happening, the Warisan government had to dissolve the assembly for a fresh election to be held.
“The state election should not have been held. Sabah already had an election in 2018, Warisan won and formed the state government.”
In the 14th general election, Barisan Nasional won 29 seats, and Warisan and their Pakatan Harapan allies also won 29.
STAR, then a non-aligned opposition party, won two seats and gave their support to BN.
Musa Aman was sworn in as the chief minister but his government collapsed when Upko, a BN component, defected to Warisan Plus.
Mahathir said the election was costly as evidenced by the spread of Covid-19 from Sabah to Peninsular Malaysia.
“From a safe state, Sabah has become a cluster. Thousands will be victims, there are even deaths,” he said.
He also “challenged” Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to keep his word on holding a snap election if Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) won the Sabah polls. GRS consists of Perikatan Nasional, Barisan Nasional and PBS.
“Don’t break your promise. Have a general election, let thousands be infected, let more die.
“Politics is more important than principles,” he said.
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