Did the Health Ministry advise against the holding of Parliamentary meetings, including a virtual Parliament and Select Committee meetings to exercise oversight and scrutiny of government measures in the Covid-19 pandemic, and propose a one-day meeting on May 18?


Benarkah Kementerian Kesihatan menasihatkan supaya Parlimen tidak bersidang, termasuk persidangan Parlimen dan jawatankuasa pilihan khas secara maya, bagi menyemak dan meneliti langkah-langkah yang diambil kerajaan dalam mengurus dan membendung wabak Covid-19 dan sebaliknya mencadangkan supaya sidang Parlimen diadakan selama satu hari sahaja pada 18 Mei ini?

Semalam, Perdana Menteri Perancis, Edouard Philippe, mengumumkan bahawa beliau akan membentangkan strategi keluar Perancis di Parlimen Perancis pada hari esok, yang kemudiannya akan dibahaskan dan diundi untuk diluluskan.

Jumlah kematian harian akibat Covid-19 di Perancis semakin berkurangan, negara tersebut mencatatkan angka kematian seramai 242 orang pada Ahad, berbanding 369 kematian baru pada hari sebelumnya.

Hanya dalam seminggu yang lalu, Perancis mencatat peningkatan sebanyak 14,256 kes Covid-19 dan 3,139 orang telah dilaporkan meninggal dunia akibat jangkitan wabak ini — jauh melebihi angka yang dicatatkan di Malaysia.

Sekiranya Perancis yang kini merupakan negara kedua selepas Amerika Syarikat dengan jumlah kes tertinggi Covid-19, dengan 226,629 kes dengan 23,190 kematian, dapat memastikan Parlimennya bersidang untuk meneliti dan kemudiannya meluluskan strategi keluarnya, mengapa Parlimen Malaysia dilemahkan fungsinya dan dipinggirkan peranannya?

Menteri Hal Ehwal Parlimen, Takiyuddin Hassan berkata bahawa keputusan untuk mengadakan persidangan Dewan Rakyat selama hanya satu hari pada 18 Mei kononnya adalah berdasarkan nasihat Kementerian Kesihatan serta pakar-pakar yang berkaitan demi kebaikan dan keselamatan semua pihak.

Benarkah Kementerian Kesihatan menasihatkan supaya Parlimen tidak bersidang, termasuk persidangan Parlimen dan jawatankuasa pilihan khas secara maya, bagi menyemak dan meneliti langkah-langkah yang diambil kerajaan dalam mengurus dan membendung wabak Covid-19 dan sebaliknya mencadangkan supaya sidang Parlimen diadakan selama satu hari sahaja pada 18 Mei ini sekadar untuk memenuhi keperluan seperti yang termaktub di dalam Perlembagaan yang yang mengatakan Parlimen perlu bersidang sekurang-kurangnya setiap enam bulan?

Saya berharap Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan, Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, dalam sidang media hariannya hari ini, dapat memberikan sedikit penjelasan tentang dakwaan yang Kementerian Kesihatan ada menasihatkan Parlimen agar bermesyuarat selama satu hari sahaja, dan sama ada benar bahawa pihak Kementerian Kesihatan tidak bersetuju supaya Parlimen memainkan peranannya dalam menyemak imbang tindak-tanduk kerajaan dalam mengendalikan wabak Covid-19 ini.

Saya tidak beberapa yakin dengan cadangan yang idea untuk melaksanakan sidang Parlimen selama satu hari pada 18 Mei ini datang dari Kementerian Kesihatan, kerana pada 17 April, iaitu ketika Setiausaha Parlimen menghantar notis kepada semua Ahli Parlimen untuk memaklumkan bahawa Parlimen akan bersidang selama satu hari sahaja, Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan dan semua pakar pasti sudah merasakan bahawa kita telah melepasi kemuncak gelombang kedua wabak Covid-19, tertakluk kepada pengesahan daripada perkembangan dalam beberapa hari mendatang.

Pada 31 Mac, saya telah menegaskan bahawa “ada harapan yang unjuran JP Morgan di mana Malaysia akan mencapai 6,300 kes positif Covid-19 pada pertengahan April bakal dibuktikan salah” dan pada 7 April, saya boleh menjangka bahawa kemuncak gelombang kedua wabak Covid-19 di Malaysia telah berlalu pada 3 April dengan 3,333 kes, saya tidak percaya yang Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan atau pakar kesihatan tidak dapat meramalkan hal yang sama dan seterusnya berkongsi dengan pemimpin tertinggi kerajaan tentang lengkungan epidemiologi Covid-19 di negara ini yang telah berjaya diratakan dan jumlah kes semakin berkurangan – berbeza sama sekali situasinya dengan negara-negara Eropah seperti United Kingdom, Sepanyol, Perancis, Itali dan Amerika Syarikat.

Dari 17 April hingga semalam, kenaikan harian kes Covid-19 di Malaysia secara konsisten berada di dalam lingkungan dua angka, antara 36 hingga 88 kes.

Sebagai perbandingan, kenaikan harian kes Covid-19 di United Kingdom bukan sahaja kekal sekitar empat angka sejak 17 April tetapi berada sekitar antara 4,301 hingga 5,850 kes.

Kenaikan harian kes Covid-19 di Perancis juga berada dalam lingkungan empat angka sejak 17 April, antara 1,101 hingga 3,824 kes kecuali semalam yang mencatatkan peningkatan sebanyak 612 kes.

Jika idea sidang Parlimen sehari ini tidak datang dari Kementerian Kesihatan atau nasihat pakar, Menteri Hal Ehwal Parlimen harus mengakui kesilapannya dan meminta Kabinet pada hari Rabu ini untuk menyemak semula keputusan persidangan Parlimen sehari ini.

Kerajaan harus berbincang dengan para pemimpin parti-parti politik yang mempunyai wakil di Parlimen tentang bagaimana Parlimen dapat melaksanakan peranannya dalam usaha membendung wabak Covid-19 dan bukannya menjadi negara pertama di dunia yang melemahkan fungsi dan meminggirkan peranan Parlimennya.

(Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang pada Isnin, 27 April 2020)

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Yesterday, the French Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, announced that he would present a national exit strategy to the French Parliament tomorrow, which would then debate and vote on the government’s recommendations.

France’s daily death toll slowed as recorded Covid-19 fatalities in France rose by 242 on Sunday, down from 369 new deaths the previous day.

In the past week alone, France recorded an increase of 14,256 Covid-19 cases and 3,139 people died of the disease – way beyond the figures recorded in Malaysia.

If the country which is presently the second country after the United States with the highest recorded number of Covid-19 confirmed cases, i.e. 226,629 cases with 23,190 deaths, could report to Parliament and seek parliamentary approval for the French national exit strategy, why is the Malaysian Parliament being emasculated and marginalised?

The Minister for Parliamentary affairs, Takiyuddin Hassan said that the decision on the one-day Parliament on May 18 was based on the advice of the Health Ministry as well as relevant specialists for the benefit and safety of all parties.

Did the Health Ministry advise against the holding of Parliamentary meetings, including virtual Parliament and Select Committee meetings, to exercise oversight and scrutiny of government measures in the Covid-19 pandemic, and propose instead a one-day meeting on May 18 just to comply with the constitutional requirement that Parliament must meet once every six months?

I hope the Health director-general, Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, in his daily media conference today, would be able to throw some light on whether the Health Ministry had advised the holding of a one-day Parliament and that it was against Parliament holding the government to accountability and scrutiny for all actions related to the Covid-19 pandemic?

I am quite sceptical that the idea of a one-day meeting of Parliament on May 18 had come from the Health Ministry, as by April 17, when the parliamentary secretary sent out the notice to all MPs about the one-day Parliament, the Health director-general and all specialists would have suspected that the country had passed the peak of the second wave of Covid-19 outbreak, subject to confirmation by developments in the coming days.

If by March 31, I could state that ““there are hopeful signs that JP Morgan’s grim projection of Malaysia peaking at 6,300 Covid-19 cases by mid-April can be proven wrong” and on April 7, I could hazard the prognosis that the peak of the second wave of Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia had been reached on April 3rd with 3,333 cases, I do not believe that the health director-general or any specialist could not see the writing on the wall and shared with the top government leaders the view that the Covid-19 epidemiological curve had been flattened and that Malaysia was only the downward descent of the curve – completely unlike European countries like the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Italy and the United States.

From April 17 to yesterday, Malaysia’s daily increase in Covid-19 cases broke free from three-digit figures, and were consistently in double-digit figures ranging from 36 to 88 cases.

In comparison, United Kingdom’s daily increases not only remained in four-digit figures since April 17 but ranged from 4,301 to 5,850 cases.

France was also in four-digit figures for daily increase of Covid-10 cases since April 17, ranging from 1,101 to 3,824 cases except yesterday when it registered an increase of 612 cases.

If the idea of a one-day Parliament had not emanated from the Health Ministry or the advice of specialists, the Minister of parliamentary affairs should eat humble pie and ask Cabinet on Wednesday to rectify the mistake of a one-day Parliament, which has gained notoriety for the Malaysian Parliament in the world.

The government should instead discuss with the leaders of the political parties represented in Parliament as to how Parliament can perform its critical roles of oversight and scrutiny in the Covid-19 pandemic and not be the first country in the Covid-19 pandemic to emasculate and marginalise Parliament.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang on Monday, 27th April 2010)

  1. #1 by Bigjoe on Monday, 27 April 2020 - 5:52 pm

    Fact of the matter is Muhiyiddin-Azmin administration is unstable and about to risk handing the govt to UMNO-PAS. Postphoning Parliament does not make it more stable. It never will.

    We need Sarawak and Sabah to decide if UMNO-PAS is the govt the want to run Malaysia. That is what need to be decided Parliament or GE..

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