Shafie Apdal ready to cooperate to help country's economy

He opined that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's decree was a wise decision in a situation where the people are facing the COVID-19 pandemic.

"My utmost gratitute to His Majesty and the Council of Rulers who made a decision in not allowing a declaration of Emergency.

"That is a wise move. Many countries are in trouble due to COVID-19 but they do not declare an emergency because (it can) affect the economy," he told Astro AWANI on Monday.

At the same time, Mohd Shafie said Warisan is ready to cooperate in ensuring the country's economic growth and efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 are addressed.

"So, we need to look at what framework of cooperation needs to be done so that our country's economy is good and what steps we are taking in facing COVID-19.

"We took firm action to overcome this problem that we blocked the entry time in Kota Kinabalu at that time because we are confident it will be able to have a big impact on the safety of the community," he added.

Shafie, meanwhile, stressed that the decision to dissolve the Sabah State Assembly (DUN) was unavoidable and implemented based on the legislation that has existed for so long.

At the same time, the management of COVID-19 transmission is up to all parties to ensure that standard operating procedures (SOPs) are complied with.

"We see in terms of the government framework. That is, when it has to be dissolved, then it has to be dissolved. The framework has been there for decades, we have to have the existing legal mandate. We do not say that the decision cannot be implemented," he added.

In fact, he said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's decree that all parties must not continue politicking is not a new thing but has been stated from the beginning.

"Tuanku said in the early stages to reduce politics, even before this we governed the state well in managing COVID-19.