After Tajuddin Abdul Rahman’s sacking as Prasarana Malaysia Bhd chairman, who will next get sacked for Malaysia’s failure of an emergency in the 17-month war against Covid-19 pandemic compelling a total lockdown of the country?
When Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as Prime Minister on March 1, 2020 after the Sheraton Move conspiracy toppled the democratically-elected Pakatan Harapan government in 22 months, there were 29 Covid-19 cases and zero Covid-19 deaths.
When the first full lockdown (MCO) of the country was imposed on March 18, 2020, there were a cumulative total of 790 Covid-19 cases and 2 deaths.
When emergency was declared on January 11,2021, there were a cumulative total of 138,224 Covid-19 cases and 559 Covid-19 deaths.
In the four-and-a-half months of Emergency, the number of Covid-19 cases increased about three times by 411,289 cases and the Covid-19 deaths increased by more than three-and-a-half times by 1,994 fatalities to reach a cumulative total of 549,514 Covid-19 cases and 2,552 fatalities; and the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases have almost quadrupled from 2,232 case on Jan. 11 to 8,290 cases.
Would the Prime Minister or any Minister dare to say that this is not a colossal failure which warrants the sacking of the Commander-in-Chief in charge of the war against the Covid-19 pandemic?
The Prime Minister has completely forgotten his New Year message on 31.12.2020 where he listed five priorities for the year 2021 in an integrated national recovery strategy post Covid-19.
He spoke about the priority to “uphold the country’s sovereignty and strengthen Malaysia’s position on the world stage”.
Has he realized that no Prime Minister apart from him has done more damage to Malaysia’s position on the world stage?
It is under his premiership that the Indonesian government warned Indonesians not to emulate India and Malaysia as examples in the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic when advising them to take Covid-19 precautions and stay at home during the Hari Raya Aidilfriti holidays, and this advice had been proved right, for Malaysia had a higher daily increase of new Covid-19 cases than Indonesia for the last 17 consecutive days since 12th May.
A few days ago, Malaysia was mentioned in the international media as one fo the 19 countries in the company of Argentina, Colombia, Iran, Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan, Costa Rica and South Africa which can see Covid-19 pandemic reach “crisis point” as seen in India.
We are ranked No. 40 among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, although we were ranked No. 85 six months ago on November 18, 2020. But yesterday, we rank No. 11 in the world with a daily increase of 8,290 new Covid-19 cases.
In terms of new confirmed Covid-19 cases per million people yesterday, we beat India, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, UK, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and China.
In declaring an emergency, Muhyiddin has paralysed Malaysia in two important strategies in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, viz:
- Public trust and confidence in the government’s handling of the war against the Covid-19 pandemic; and
- A national mobilisation effort against the Covid-19 pandemic through an “all-of-government” and “ whole-of-society” strategy and approach, a strategy which I had suggested for one year.
Will Muhyiddin advise the Yang di Pertuan Agong to convene Parliament and restore the important check-and-balance role of Parliament as provided in the Constitution now that it is as clear as the light of day that an emergency could only aggravate the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic?
The Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations (FPMPAM) has urged the government to expedite Covid-19 vaccinations by simplifying the process to do so.
Its president Dr Steven Chow Kim Weng said the government should roll out the vaccine through private general practitioners (GPs) and government health clinics nationwide, rather than focusing on a handful of large vaccine administration centres (PPV).
He also said there is no need for a computerised system that does not function properly, and that the present system is too cumbersome and actually discourages people from getting vaccinated.
He said the 7,000 GPs and thousands of (government) health clinics each can easily vaccinate 50 patients daily, and together with the private hospitals achieve critical mass in a very short time.
He said: “All the government needs to do is to deliver efficiently the vaccine to all of them. This can be done by existing pharmaceutical distributors who have the capability and the capacity to do so.”
“We urge the government to do the needful immediately as it is already very late,” he said.
Will the Prime Minister now listen to the civil society and adopt an “all-of government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach after trying to resovle the Covid-19 pandemic through a government monopoly?
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, May 29, 2021)