Najib mocks Sabah gov't but shoots himself in the foot instead

• UPDATE 11:45pm | Added Najib’s rebuttal.

CORONAVIRUS | Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak appeared to have shot himself in the foot by taking a jab at the Sabah government over the quality of quarantine facilities.

At about 2.40pm today, Najib (photo) shared a video clip on his Facebook page, purportedly depicting a man on a sarcastic rant about the dilapidated living conditions of his quarantine facility in Sabah.

"This is the condition of the quarantine centres prepared by the government in Sabah," wrote Najib.

An hour later, Najib followed up by sharing a Malaysiakini article citing a Sabah government official admitting that some quarantine centres in the state were not up to mark.

"Oh," said Najib in a curt reaction to the news.

An irate Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin issued a statement this evening accusing Najib of "slandering" the state government through Facebook posts.

"Yes, (the centres) were prepared by the government, but it is the federal government, not the Sabah government.

"The quarantine centre referred to by Najib is a federal government asset, not the state government.

"That quarantine centre was approved by the Sabah Health Department, which is a federal government agency," he said.

Given this, Chan said the state government was not responsible for the situation, especially since it was the federal government which mandated that anyone returning from abroad must be quarantined in government-run facilities for 14 days.

He said Najib appeared to be only interested in cheap publicity by politicising the matter.

"I'm disappointed with government politicians who are still trying to play politics during a crisis.

"The federal government, with its resources, should be helping Sabah and not playing up issues for political purposes," Chan added.

In his rebuttal again Chan and this Malaysiakini article later, Najib said he did not write that the quarantine centres were prepared by the Sabah government.

“Read slowly what I have written.

“I wrote ‘quarantine centres prepared by the government in Sabah’.

“I did not write ‘quarantine centres prepared by the Sabah government’.

“See the difference? Understand what I say before rushing to hit out at me," he said.

“Can’t I or the people raise an issue with the quarantine centres used for the 14-day quarantine is not good enough and needs to be improved?” 

Najib said Sabah exco members should be aware of the living conditions of the quarantine centres and either offer an alternative location or clean up the place.

“Don’t just ‘shoot’ me but not do anything to fix the situation while in the middle of the Covid-19 crisis,” he said.

For the record, Sabah Health and People's Wellbeing Minister Frankie Poon had admitted the basic facilities of a few quarantine centres were not up to mark, and will be repaired and cleaned up.

Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker.

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