Federal Government’s decision to ignore Sabah’s SOP request “odd” – Salleh

KOTA KINABALU: Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) Backbencher Chairman, Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak has likened the Federal Government’s decision to not include Sabah as among the states that will undergo the second phase of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) as ‘odd’.
“We still haven’t heard any news concerning the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for Sabah after so long.
“This is causing confusing and concerns that should not have happened,” he said in his latest post on facebook.
In a special media conference at Putrajaya today, Senior Minister of Defense, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced five states in West Malaysia that will be transitioning towards the second phase of the PPNS starting July 5.
Ismail Sabri said that the five states are Perlis, Perak, Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan.
He explained that the five states would be transitioning to the next phase as they have successfully achieved the three fixed indicators which are having less than 4,000 daily Covid-19 cases, increased capacity of their Intensive Care Unit (ICU), as well as having reached 10 percent of population vaccination.
Salleh who is formerly Sabah’s Chief Minister said that although the people of Sabah were happy to hear the news concerning the five states in Peninsular Malaysia being allowed to enter into the second phase of the PPN, the act of delaying the decision on Sabah’s SOP application is not apt.
He hopes that the federal government will respect the application made by the Sabah government to relax the SOP for the state.