Mengapa Muhyiddin sangat takut untuk memanggil sidang khas Parlimen Covid-19, sedangkan Malaysia berjaya mengurusnya lebih baik berbanding UK sedangkan Dewan Rakyat di UK telah mengadakan sidang secara maya selama 100-minit semalam?

Walaupun Malaysia berjaya mengendalikan bencana Covid-19 dengan lebih baik berbanding United Kingdom, adalah menjadi satu perkara memalukan apabila Parlimen UK semalam telah mengadakan persidangan maya yang membolehkan ahli parlimen untuk meneliti tindak-tanduk kerajaan British selama 100 minit mengenai pengendalian bencana Covid-19 di negara tersebut. Namun begitu, kerajaan Malaysia masih tidak berani untuk mengadakan persidangan khas bagi isu yang sama.

Mengapakah Muhyiddin sangat takut untuk memanggil sidang khas Parlimen Covid-19 sedangkan Malaysia berjaya mengurusnya dengan lebih baik berbanding UK yang mempunyai 133,495 kes dan 18,100 kematian — 24 kali jumlah kes dan 195 jumlah kematian di Malaysia, yang hanya mempunyai 5,532 kes dan 93 kematian?

Adakah perkara ini terjadi kerana Malaysia terlalu terkebelakang dari aspek teknologi, malah berada jauh di belakang Maldives, negara terkecil di Asia dari jumlah penduduk dan saiz kawasan, yang telah menjadi negara pertama di dunia yang telah menjalankan sidang parlimen secara atas talian untuk kesemua 87 ahli parlimennya semasa bencana Covid-19?

Atau adakah ianya kerana Malaysia ini tidak demokratik dan tidak sesuai dengan sistem demokrasi berparlimen yang diwarisi daripada bapa yang menubuhkan negara kita, dengan asas pemisahan kuasa, kedaulatan undang-undang, dan Perlembagaan Persekutuan?

Dewan Rakyat UK semalam telah mengadakan persidangan secara maya pertama kalinya, dengan sesi Pertanyaan kepada Perdana Menteri selama 45 minit, Kenyataan Menteri selama 10 minit daripada Menteri Kesihatan dan Kebajikan Sosial, Matt Hancock, yang kemudiannya diikuti dengan sesi pertanyaan selama 45 minit.

Keseluruhan 100 minit waktu Pertanyaan kepada Perdana Menteri, — yang dijawab oleh Menteri Luar Dominic Raab bagi menggantikan Perdana Menteri Boris Johnson yang masih sedang dalam pemulihan daripada jangkitan Covid-19 — Kenyataan Menteri, dan soal jawab kepada menteri memfokuskan satu isu iaitu Covid-19.

Persidangan maya pertama semalam juga merupakan kemunculan pertama Keir Starmer sebagai Ketua Pembangkang baharu Parlimen UK, beliau mempersoalkan kegagalan kerajaan dalam perkara ujian saringan dan kegagalan membekalkan alatan pelindung diri yang mencukupi.

Seorang ahli parlimen UK juga mempersoalkan cara pengendalian “huru-hara” wabak Covid-19 di UK oleh pihak kerajaan.

Semasa perintah kawalan pergerakan dimulakan di Malaysia pada 18 Mac 2020, kita mempunyai 790 kes Covid-19 dan dua kematian, sedangkan pada masa yang sama United Kingdom mempunyai 2,626 kes dan 104 kematian.

Lima minggu kemudian, jumlah keseluruhan kes Covid-19 di Malaysia meningkat sebanyak tujuh kali ganda kepada 5,532 dan jumlah kematian telahpun meningkat sebanyak 46 kali ganda kepada 93 kematian.

Sementara itu di United Kingdom pula, jumlah ini meningkat mendadak dengan kes positif di negara tersebut meningkat 50 kali ganda, daripada 2,660 kepada 133,495 kes dan jumlah kematian pula meningkat 174 kali ganda daripada 104 kematian kepada 18,100 kematian.

Penting juga diingati bahawa terdapat data yang mencadangkan kadar kematian sebenar di United Kingdom mungkin 40% lebih tinggi daripada angka yang diumumkan oleh pihak kerajaan mereka.

Di dalam sebuah demokrasi berparlimen, yang menegakkan prinsip pemisahan kuasa dan kedaulatan undang-undang, penelitian parlimen adalah perkara asas yang penting, terutamanya ketika negara sedang menghadapi krisis seperti bencana wabak Covid-19.

Dengan penelitian Parlimen, masalah yang dihadapi oleh rakyat dalam bencana ini dapat diketengahkan dan diselesaikan, sama ada aduan di mana tidak semua petugas kesihatan barisan hadapan menerima elaun khas bernilai antara RM400 ke RM600 seperti yang diumumkan dalam pakej Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat; ataupun kekurangan alatan pelindungan diri untuk para petugas barisan hadapan; diskriminasi dalam pengagihan bantuan makanan, terutamanya dalam kawasan parlimen pembangkang; aduan mengenai ketidak-cukupan makanan dan maklumat di kawasan di bawah Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan Diperketatkan (PKPD); layanan tidak adil terhadap Ahli Parlimen Batu P. Prabakaran apabila beliau cuba untuk mengetengahkan isu yang dihadapi oleh penduduk di Taman Sri Murni di Selayang yang kini berada di bawah PKPD; layanan berbeza dalam pelaksanaan PKPD; nasib golongan terpinggir yang diabaikan dalam menghadapi wabak ini, dan lain-lain perkara lagi.

Masih belum terlambat untuk Perdana Menteri memanggil satu persidangan khas parlimen untuk membahaskan isu berkaitan Covid-19 sebelum bulan April berakhir.

Di peringkat dunia, terdapat berita baik dan buruk mengenai wabak Covid-19 ini.

Semalam, jumlah kes terkumpul di seluruh dunia melepasi paras 2.5 juta kes. Terdapat 2,632,532 kes di seluruh dunia dengan peningkatan harian sebanyak 76,772 kes, 1,535 kali ganda jumlah peningkatan harian di Malaysia!

Manakala, 183,866 nyawa telah pun terkorban di seluruh dunia kerana wabak ini, berbanding dengan 92 di Malaysia.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Ketua Pertubuhan Kesihatan Sedunia (WHO) berkata terdapat tren peningkatan yang membimbangkan di Afrika dan Amerika Selatan dan Amerika Tengah. Beliau juga memberikan amaran yang virus ini akan berada dengan kita untuk satu tempoh yang lama.

Beliau berkata di dalam sebuah taklimat maya dengan wartawan di Geneva: “Kebanyakan negara masih berada di dalam fasa awal dan sesetengah negara yang awal dijangkiti wabak ini kini sedang berhadapan dengan peningkatan.”

Setakat hari ini, 10 negara teratas dengan jumlah kes Covid-19 tertinggi adalah:

1. Amerika Syarikat 846,294 kes; 47,524 kematian (5.6%)
2. Sepanyol 208,389 kes; 21,717 kematian (10.4%)
3. Itali 187,327 kes; 25,085 kematian (13.4%)
4. Perancis 159,877 kes; 21,340 kematian (13.3%)
5. Jerman 150,646 kas; 5,279 kematian (3.5%)
6. UK 133,495 kes; 18,100 kematian (13.6%)
7. Turki 98,674 kes; 2,376 kematian (2.4%)
8. Iran 85,996 kes; 5,391 kematian (6.3%)
9. China 82.788 kes; 4,632 kematian (5.6%)
10. Rusia 57,999 kes; 513 kematian (0,9%)

Di Asean pula, Singapura telah menjadi negara dengan jumlah kes Covid-19 tertinggi: Singapura (10,141 kes, 12 kematian); Indonesia (7.418 kes, 635 kematian), Filipina (6.710 kes, 446 kematian); Malaysia (5.532 kes, 93 kematian) dan Thailand (2.826 kes, 49 kematian).

Antara berita terbaik pula adalah pembangunan vaksin Covid-19 oleh Universiti Oxford yang memulakan ujian klinikal pada manusia hari ini.

Para saintis di Oxford telah mengatakan sebelum ini yang mereka menyasarkan pengeluaran sejuta dos vaksin menjelang September.

(Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang pada hari Khamis 23 April 2020)

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Although Malaysia has handled the Covid-19 crisis better than the United Kingdom, it is a crying shame that the UK Parliament met in a “virtual” meeting yesterday subjecting the British government to a 100-minute scrutiny of its handling of the Covid-19 crisis, but the Malaysian Parliament dared not convene a special meeting over the same issue.

Why is the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin so afraid to convene a special Parliament when Malaysia had handled the Covid-19 crisis better than UK, which has 133,495 Covid-19 confirmed cases and 18,100 deaths – 24 times more cases and 195 times more deaths than in Malaysia, with 5,532 cases and 93 deaths?

Is it because Malaysia is so technologically backward as to lose out even to Maldives, the smallest Asian country both by land area and population with 538,000 people, which became the first in the world to hold an online parliamentary session with 87 Members of Parliament during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Or is it because Malaysia is inherently undemocratic and not fit to have a system of parliamentary democracy as bequeathed by the nation’s founding fathers, based on the separation of powers, the rule of law and the Malaysian Constitution?

The UK House of Commons had its first official “virtual” meeting yesterday which included a 45-minute Prime Minister’s Question Time, a ten-minute Ministerial statement by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock and 45-minute question-and-answer question for Matt Hancock.

All the 100 minutes, the entire Prime Minister’s Question Time – which was conducted by the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Rabb as the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson was still recovering from Covid-19 infection – the Ministerial statement and the subsequent Q & A session, were focused specifically on one subject – the Covid-19 pandemic.

The “virtual” House of Commons yesterday also marked the maiden appearance of the newly-elected British Leader of the Opposition, Keir Starmer, who tore into the government over coronavirus testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) failures.

An UK Member of Parliament questioned the Health and Social Care Secretary over the UK government “shambolic” handling of the Covid-19 crisis.

When Malaysia launched the movement control order (MCO) on 18th March, Malaysia had 790 cases with two deaths from Covid-19 while the United Kingdom had 2,626 cases and 104 deaths.

Five weeks later today, Malaysia’s total of Covid-19 cases increased seven times to 5,532 and the total death toll increased over 46 times to 93 deaths, while in the United Kingdom, both increased by astronomical rates – Covid-19 confirmed cases increased 50 times from 2,660 to 133,495 cases while the Covid-19 deaths increased 174 times from 104 deaths to 18,100 deaths.

It is pertinent to note that there is data to show that the true extent of UK’s Covid-19 death toll has been estimated to be 40 percent higher than the government’s daily figures, putting the country on track to become the worst-hit in Europe.

In a parliamentary democracy which upholds the separation of powers and the rule of law, parliamentary scrutiny is basic and fundamental especially in an unprecedented crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is in a parliamentary scrutiny that the problems faced by the people in a Covid-19 crisis could be brought up and resolved, whether complaints that not all the healthcare frontliners are entitled to the special allowance between RM400 and RM600 per month as announced in the Prihatin stimulus package; the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for the frontliners; discrimination in the distribution of food aid hampers especially for opposition-held constituencies; complaints of lack of food and information in enhanced MCO areas; shabby and unfair treatment of the MP for Batu, P. Prabakaran when he tried to raise the grievances of the residents in Taman Sri Murni in Selayang, an Enhanced MCO area; double standards in enforcing the MCO; the plight of vulnerable groups who were left behind in the Covid-19 pandemic, etc.

It is not too late for the Prime Minister to convene a special parliamentary meeting on the Covid-19 crisis before the end of April.

There continues to be both good and bad news on the international front with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yesterday, the global total of cases passed the 2.5 million mark. It has now reached 2,632,532, a daily increase of 76,772 cases, 1,535 times Malaysia’s latest daily increase of 50 cases!

Worldwide, 183,866 people have died because of Covid-19, as compared to 92 in Malaysia.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said there were “worrying upward trends” in early epidemics in parts of Africa and central and South America, warning that the “virus will be with us for a long time”.

He said in a virtual briefing for journalists in Geneva: “Most countries are still in the early stages of their epidemics and some that were affected early in the pandemic are starting to see a resurgence in cases.”

Presently, the top 10 countries for the most number of Covid-19 confirmed cases are:

1. United States 846,294 cases; 47,524 deaths (5.6%)
2. Spain 208,389 cases; 21,717 deaths (10.4%)
3. Italy 187,327 cases; 25,085 deaths (13.4%)
4. France 159,877 cases; 21,340 deaths (13.3%)
5. Germany 150,646 casers; 5,279 deaths (3.5%)
6. UK 133,495 cases; 18,100 deaths (13.6%)
7. Turkey 98,674 cases; 2.376 deaths (2.4%)
8. Iran 85,996 cases; 5.391 deaths (6.3%)
9. China 82,788 cases; 4,632 deaths (5.6%)
10. Russia 57,999 cases; 513 deaths (0.9%)

In ASEAN, Singapore has become the top country in terms of number of Covid-19 cases: Singapore (10,141 cases, 12 deaths); Indonesia (7,418 cases, 635 deaths), Philippines (6,710 cases, 446 deaths); Malaysia (5,532 cases, 93 deaths) and Thailand (2,826 cases, 49 deaths).

The best news on the international front is that a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University with enter human trials beginning today.

Scientists at Oxford have previously said the aim is to produce a million doses of the vaccine by September.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang on Thursday 23rtd April 2020)