Muhyiddin harus memanggil sidang parlimen tergempar selama dua hari untuk meluluskan pakej rangsangan ekonomi beliau dan memperdebatkan permulaan semula enjin ekonomi negara
Dalam siaran langsung pengumuman pakej rangsangan ekonomi bernilai RM250 bilion beliau semalam, Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin menekankan bahawa “kerajaan ini peduli kepada anda” walaupun kerajaan ini bukanlah kerajaan yang diundi oleh rakyat Malaysia pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke 14 dua tahun yang lepas.
Atas sebab ini, adalah penting untuk Muhyiddin diperingatkan bahawa Malaysia masih lagi sebuah demokrasi berparlimen dan beliau harus memanggil satu persidangan tergempar selama dua hari Parlimen untuk meluluskan pakej rangsangan ekonominya bagi memastikan ia akan mempunyai kredibiliti dan legitimasi.
Tidak perlu sebarang urusan lain untuk persidangan tergempar Parlimen ini, sama ada sesi soal jawab, usul “undi tidak percaya” terhadap Perdana Menteri, pemilihan Speaker baharu atau perkara-perkara lain kecuali perdebatan untuk meluluskan pakej rangsangan ekonomi yang bernilai RM250 bilion ini.
Perdebatan ini juga boleh memberikan ruang kepada Ahli Parlimen untuk menyampaikan pandangan rakyat mengenai peperangan terhadap wabak Covid-19 ini dan krisis kesihatan awam, ekonomi dan maklumat yang melanda negara akibat serangan Covid 19.
Apabila Muhyiddin mengumumkan pakej rangsangan ekonomi semalam, Pejabat Perdana Menteri telah mengeluarkan satu infografik 24 halaman mengenai “Pakej Rangsangan Ekonomi Prihatin Rakyat 2020”.
Infografik ini bermula dengan penerangan kesan global dan domestik wabak Covid 19, dari segi penularan wabak dalam jumlah jangkitan global dan kematian dan kesannya ke atas ekonomi, tetapi sangat jelas bahawa infografik ini menggunakan angka-angka lama, ketika wabak Covid-19 sedang memecut dengan kelajuan eksponensial di seluruh dunia.
Infografik ini menunjukkan bahawa di seluruh dunia, wabak Covid-19 telah merekodkan 434,000 kes dan mengorbankan kira-kira 20,000 nyawa, ketika Muhyiddin menyampaikan siaran langsungnya, jumlah kes Covid-19 di seluruh dunia telah melepasi paras setengah juta dengan 536,639 kes dengan 24,117 kematian.
Penggunaan unjuran oleh kajian di Imperial College London bahawa jika wabak Covid-19 ini tidak dibendung, mungkin akan ada 2.2 juta kematian di Amerika Syarikat dan 510,000 kematian di United Kingdom adalah yang sesuatu yang tidak bertanggungjawab.
Semua ini, serta idea untuk strategi kesihatan awam yang lebih berkesan untuk membendung wabak Covid-19 di Malaysia dan permulaan semula enjin ekonomi Malaysia secepat mungkin, perlu menjadi perkara perdebatan di dalam persidangan tergempar Parlimen, yang perlu diadakan dalam masa satu atau dua minggu.
(Kenyataan media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang pada hari Sabtu 28 Mac 2020)
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Yesterday, in his live telecast announcing a RM250 billion economic stimulus package, the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin stressed that “this government cares for you” although it was not the government that Malaysians voted for in the 14th General Election two years ago.
For this reason, it is important and imperative that Muhyiddin should be reminded that Malaysia is still a parliamentary democracy and that he should convene a two-day emergency meeting of Parliament to approve his economic stimulus package so that it would have credibility and legitimacy.
There should be no other business for the emergency meeting of Parliament, whether it be question-and-answer session, a “no confidence” motion against the Prime Minister, election for a new Speaker or any other business except for a debate to approve the RM250 billion economic stimulus package.
The debate will also allow Members of Parliament to convey the views of the people with regard to the invisible war against the Covid 19 virus and the triple whammy of public health, economic and information crisis in Malaysia as a result of the Covid 19 outbreak.
When Muhyddin announced the economic stimulus package yesterday, the Prime Minister’s Office also released an 24-page infographics on “Pakej Rangsangan Ekonomi Prihatin Rakyat 2020”.
The infographics opened with the global and domestic impact of the Covid 19 pandermic, both in terms of the outbreak in total global infections and deaths and its effect on the economy, but it is very clear that the infographics were using figures far behind time when the Covid-19 was raging at an exponential speed worldwide.
The infographics showed that globally, the Covid-19 pandemic had reported 434,000 cases and about 20,000 deaths, when at the time that Muhyiddin was delivering his live telecast, the number of Covid-19 cases globally had passed the half-million mark and had reached 536,639 cases with 24,414 deaths.
The use of the projections by a study at Imperial College London that if the Covid-19 pandemic is left unchecked, there could be 2.2 million deaths in the United States and 510,000 deaths in the United Kingdom is most irresponsible and alarmist.
All this, as well as ideas for a more effective public health strategy to contain the Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia and the earliest possible re-start of the Malaysian economic engine, should be the subject of debate of an emergency meeting of Parliament, which should be held within a week or two.
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang on Saturday March 28, 2020)