[ad_1]
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Minister of Housing and Local Government Masidi Manjun believes Sabah’s parties are capable of campaigning on their own without the help of their peninsula counterparts for the Batu Sapi by-elections next month.
Masidi, who is the state’s official Covid-19 spokesperson, said they learned of the state elections two months ago, but stopped short of saying that the state would recommend a travel ban to political leaders.
He added that the state could not impose any travel ban on Batu Sapi voters residing in the peninsula and who wanted to vote again, as it was their constitutional right.
“However, this raises the question of whether it is necessary for West Malaysians to come during the campaign period.
“If we learn from the recent state elections, obviously there is a need for self-discipline,” he said today during his Covid-19 briefing here.
He added that if there was a race for the Batu Sapi seat and it was necessary to campaign, then Sabahans are good enough to do it on their own “in any way allowed by the Electoral Commission (EC).”
“This takes into account that Sandakan (where Batu Sapi is located) is one of the few areas in Sabah that is still considered a red zone. I think everyone should take that into account. “
Masidi was responding to a question about how the conditional movement control order (CMCO), which has been extended until December 6 in Sabah, would affect the Batu-Sapi parliamentary parliamentary elections, which will be held the day before.
He recalled that more than 450 cases of Covid-19 on the peninsula were caused by people who had returned from the Sabah state elections.
“I think it’s a good lesson to reflect on. Having said that, it would be foolish for us to repeat the same mistake twice.
“However, I will leave (the decision) to the appropriate authority to determine whether such (travel) restrictions should be applied, for a better reason, which is to stop the spread of the virus.”
In the Sabah elections, dozens of political leaders, including Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, former Prime Minister Najib Razak, and those from Pakatan Harapan, such as DAP Secretary General Lim Guan Eng, had traveled to the state during the campaign period. .
Masidi also said that the EC had not yet issued any specific SOPs related to the Batu Sapi by-elections, but expected them to be “quite strict.”
“So we will wait until the EC announces the SOPs, assuming there will be a contest in the by-elections,” he said.
Most of Sabah’s main parties, such as Barisan Nasional, Pakatan Harapan, Parti Cinta Sabah (PCS), as well as components of Perikatan Nasional STAR and SAPP and its ally PBS, have previously said that they will not participate in the by-elections.
However, Sabah PPBM has not indicated whether it will contest the polls, of which nominations will take place on November 23 and early voting on December 1.
Warisan, whose incumbent Batu Sapi MP Liew Vui Keong died of illness on October 2, prompting the by-elections, had recently said that he would announce his candidate for the seat closer to the day of the nomination.
CLICK HERE FOR OUR LIVE UPDATE ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA
