#kerajaangagal178 – If yesterday’s 13,215  new Covid-19 cases is the rolling average for the next ten days,  Malaysia is  likely to  reach a million Covid-19 cases and  to be ranked No. 30 among countries in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases  when Parliament meets on July 26

(Tatal ke bawah untuk kenyataan versi BM)

The Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin needs a dose of truth vaccine to realise that Malaysia is one of the world’s top worst-performing nations in the Covid-19 pandemic especially in the last six months under an emergency.

By any measure, macro and micro, Malaysia has joined the dubious club of the world’s worst-performing nations in the Covid-19 pandemic.

With cumulative total of 880,782 Covid-19 cases, we are now ranked No. 32 among nations with most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, when eight months ago, we were ranked No. 85 – overtaking 53 countries in the process.

If yesterday’s 13,215 new Covid-19 cases is the rolling average for the next ten days, Malaysia is likely to reach a million Covid-19 cases and to be ranked No. 30 among countries in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases when Parliament meets on July 26 – overtaking Portugal and Pakistan who are presently ranked No. 31 and respectively.

In “Total cases per million population” index for July 14, 2021 in Our World in Data website, Malaysia at 26,804 is the highest in Asia, ASEAN and the Pacific, beating China, India, Japan, Indonesia and Philippines.

In “Daily Cases per million population” index for July 14, 2021 in Our World in Data website, Malaysia at 299.15 not only beat China, India, Japan, Indonesia and Philippines, we are also ahead of United States, Brazil and Mexico.

We are the word’s top 13th country both for daily new Covid-19 cases and new Covid-19 deaths.

Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah is right that increase in Covid-19 cases is not only happening in Malaysia, as whole world is affected by the more dominant Delta variant, including our neighbouring countries and UK.

But Malaysia’s dominant position among the worst-performing countries in the Covid-19 pandemic is further highlighted by the present spike of Covid-19 cases in the world and UK’s experience and is both an indication of the worsening Covid-19 situation in Malaysia and a warning not to regard vaccination as the silver bullet for the Covid-19 pandemic.

United Kingdom has one of the highest rates of vaccination in the world, higher than the United States, with 52.9 per cent of the UK population fully vaccinated and 69% of the population getting one dose of the vaccine, as compared to 48.3 of the population fully vaccinated and 55.8% of the population getting one dose of the vaccine in the United States.

But in UK, Covid-19 infections have quadrupled in a month since early June, and it reached 48,553 yesterday and is likely to increase further. The UK health secretary warned that the cases could rise up to 100,000 per day after restrictions such as wearing of masks and practising social distancing normal in public places are planned to be lifted on July 19.

The government should heed the warning of the World Health Organisation (WHO) secretary-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the world is in the early stages of a new Covid-19 wave caused by the Delta variant, reversing the trend of sustained decline in Covid-19 cases and deaths by increasing vaccination rates in Europe and North America.

Last week marked the fourth consecutive week of rising cases of COVID-19 globally, with increases recorded in all but one of WHO’s six regions. Deaths are also rising again, after 10 weeks of steady decline.

The Delta variant is now in more than 111 countries and WHO expects it to be the dominant Covid-19 strain circulating worldwide.

On Monday, I asked what proportion of our Covid-19 cases were of the Delta variant? 50%, 70% or 90%?

There was no answer, and this is one of the many examples of the failure of the government’s communications strategy in the Covid-19 pandemic.

When emergency was declared on January 11, 2021 to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, Malaysia had 135,992 Covid-19 cases and 551 Covid-19 deaths. Now, six months later, we have 880,782 Covid-19 cases and 6,613 Covid-19 deaths or more than six times the Covid-19 cases and 12 times the Covid-19 deaths.

Malaysians cannot understand how the Prime Minister can regard this as a success in the war against Covid-19 pandemic.

Deputy Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob dropped a bombshell two days ago when he said the entire country was expected to move into Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan in early August based on the performance of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program (NIP) where individuals who completed two doses of vaccine exceeded the 10 percent threshold set for the country.

Under the National Recovery Plan announced by the Prime Minister on June 15, the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 is after the threshold values for the following three main indicators are met, viz:

Number of daily Covid-19 cases drop to below 4,000

Bed usage in intensive care units (ICU) at moderate level

10 percent of the population received two doses of vaccine.

A virologist in Universiti Sains Malaysia has warned that the daily Covid-19 infections could rise to nearly 20,000 a day within the next two weeks, given the number of cases caused by more infectious Delta variant.

As for bed usage in intensive care units (ICU), the stories and pictures of the Klang

Valley hospitals struggling to cope with rising number of Covid-19 patients, and the spectre of the oxygen crisis in India coming to Malaysia, are the best answers.

How can the whole country under the National Recovery Plan enter Phase 2 in August when the daily Covd-19 caseload will be more than treble or quadruple the first threshold of less than 4,000 cases daily and the Klang Valley hospitals are at breaking-point in ICU usage?

The Muhyiddin Cabinet should not paint a false and dishonest picture of the Covid-19 pandemic or claim that the government strategy, including the six-month emergency, was not a dismal failure in the war against Covid-19 pandemic.

Honesty is the best policy and the government should own up to its mistakes in pursuing a failed strategy in the war against Covid-19 pandemic, for the people can forgive mistakes but not dishonesty.

It is time to discard the National Recovery Policy and the five-day meeting of Parliament beginning on July 26 should be used to draft a new strategy and approach to bring the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia under control and return Malaysia to normalcy for Malaysians to learn to live with the corona virus.

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 16th July , 2021)

#kerajaangagal178 – Sekiranya 13,215 kes Covid-19 yang dicatatkan semalam adalah jumlah purata kes untuk sepuluh hari akan datang, Malaysia kemungkinan akan mencapai sejuta kes Covid-19 dan berada di kedudukan ke-30 antara negara-negara di dunia dengan jumlah kumulatif kes Covid-19 tertinggi semasa Parlimen bersidang pada 26 Julai

Perdana Menteri, Muhyiddin Yassin perlu menyedari bahawa Malaysia adalah salah satu negara dengan prestasi paling teruk di dunia dalam menangani wabak Covid-19 terutama sepanjang darurat berkuatkuasa sejak enam bulan lalu.

Dalam apa jua ukuran, sama ada kecil mahupun besar, Malaysia telah duduk sebaris dengan negara-negara yang menunjukkan prestasi terburuk di dunia dalam menangani wabak Covid-19.

Dengan jumlah kumulatif kes Covid-19 berjumlah 880,782, kita kini berada di kedudukan ke-32 antara negara-negara dengan jumlah kumulatif kes Covid-19 tertinggi, sedangkan lapan bulan yang lalu, kita berada di kedudukan ke-85 – mengatasi 53 negara.

Sekiranya 13,215 kes Covid-19 yang dicatatkan semalam adalah jumlah purata kes untuk sepuluh hari akan datang, Malaysia kemungkinan akan mencapai sejuta kes Covid-19 dan berada di kedudukan ke-30 antara negara-negara di dunia dengan jumlah kumulatif kes Covid-19 tertinggi semasa Parlimen bersidang pada 26 Julai — memintas Portugal dan Pakistan yang masing-masing berada di kedudukan ke-31.

Dalam indeks “Jumlah kes per sejuta penduduk” untuk 14 Julai 2021 seperti disiarkan di laman web Our World in Data, Malaysia mencatatkan 26,804 kes — angka tertinggi di Asia, ASEAN dan Asia Pasifik, menewaskan China, India, Jepun, Indonesia dan Filipina.

Dalam indeks “Kes harian per sejuta penduduk” untuk 14 Julai 2021 seperti disiarkan di laman web Our World in Data, Malaysia mencatatkan 299.15 kes, tidak hanya menewaskan China, India, Jepun, Indonesia dan Filipina, bahkan mendahului Amerika Syarikat, Brazil dan Mexico.

Kita adalah negara ke-13 teratas untuk kedua-dua kategori jumlah kes harian baharu Covid-19 dan jumlah kes kematian baharu akibat wabak itu.

Ketua Pengarah Kesihatan Noor Hisham Abdullah benar apabila mengatakan trend peningkatan kes Covid-19 tidak hanya berlaku di Malaysia, kerana seluruh dunia dipengaruhi oleh varian Delta yang lebih dominan, termasuk negara jiran kita dan UK.

Namun kedudukan dominan Malaysia antara negara-negara dengan prestasi terburuk dalam menangani wabak Covid-19 diserlahkan lagi oleh lonjakan kes Covid-19 semasa di dunia dan pengalaman UK dan kedua-duanya merupakan petunjuk keadaan Covid-19 yang semakin buruk di Malaysia dan memberi tanda amaran untuk tidak menganggap vaksinasi sebagai penawar ajaib bagi menangani wabak Covid-19.

United Kingdom mempunyai kadar vaksinasi tertinggi di dunia, lebih tinggi daripada Amerika Syarikat, dengan 52.9 peratus populasi UK diberi vaksin sepenuhnya dan 69% penduduk mendapat satu dos vaksin, berbanding 48.3% populasi diberi vaksin sepenuhnya dan 55.8% penduduk mendapat satu dos vaksin di Amerika Syarikat.

Tetapi di UK, jangkitan Covid-19 meningkat empat kali ganda dalam tempoh sebulan sejak awal bulan Jun, dan negara itu mencapai 48,553 kes semalam dan kemungkinan akan meningkat lebih tinggi. Setiausaha kesihatan England memberi amaran bahawa kes-kes itu boleh meningkat hingga 100,000 setiap hari setelah sekatan seperti pemakaian pelitup muka dan amalan penjarakan sosial di tempat awam pada 19 Julai ditarik balik pada 19 Julai.

Kerajaan harus mengambil berat terhadap amaran Setiausaha Agung Pertubuhan Kesihatan Sedunia (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus bahawa dunia sedang berada dalam tahap awal gelombang baharu Covid-19 yang disebabkan oleh varian Delta, yang membalikkan trend penurunan berterusan kes Covid-19 dan kes kematian dengan meningkatkan kadar vaksinasi di Eropah dan Amerika Utara.

Minggu lalu menandakan minggu keempat berturut-turut peningkatan kes Covid-19 di seluruh dunia, dengan kenaikan dicatat di semua kecuali satu daripada enam wilayah WHO. Kes kematian juga meningkat kembali, setelah 10 minggu mengalami penurunan berterusan.

Varian Delta kini terdapat di lebih dari 111 negara dan WHO menjangkakan ia akan menjadi varian Covid-19 yang dominan yang menular di seluruh dunia.

Pada hari Isnin, saya bertanya berapa bahagian kes Covid-19 di negara ini adalah dari varian Delta? 50%, 70% atau 90%?

Tidak ada jawapan, dan ini adalah salah satu dari banyak contoh kegagalan strategi komunikasi kerajaan dalam menangani wabak Covid-19.

Ketika darurat diisytiharkan pada 11 Januari 2021 untuk memerangi wabak Covid-19, Malaysia mempunyai 135,992 kes Covid-19 dan 551 kematian Covid-19. Kini, enam bulan kemudian, kita mempunyai 880,782 kes Covid-19 dan 6,613 kematian Covid-19 atau lebih daripada enam kali ganda kes Covid-19 dan 12 kali ganda kematian Covid-19.

Rakyat Malaysia tidak dapat memahami bagaimana Perdana Menteri dapat menganggap ini sebagai kejayaan dalam perang melawan wabak Covid-19.

Dua hari lalu, Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Ismail Sabri Yaakob berkata bahawa seluruh negara dijangka memasuki Fasa 2 Pelan Pemulihan Negara pada awal Ogos berdasarkan prestasi Program Imunisasi Covid-19 Kebangsaan (NIP) di mana Individu yang menyelesaikan dua dos vaksin mencapai unjuran 10 peratus yang ditetapkan untuk negara ini.

Di bawah Pelan Pemulihan Negara yang diumumkan oleh Perdana Menteri pada 15 Jun, peralihan dari Fasa 1 ke Fasa 2 adalah setelah nilai ambang untuk tiga petunjuk utama berikut dipenuhi, iaitu:

-Jumlah kes harian Covid-19 turun ke bawah paras 4,000

-Penggunaan katil di unit rawatan rapi (ICU) pada tahap sederhana

-10 peratus penduduk menerima dua dos vaksin.

Seorang pakar virologi di Universiti Sains Malaysia telah memberi amaran bahawa jangkitan harian Covid-19 boleh meningkat sehingga 20,000 kes sehari dalam tempoh dua minggu lagi, memandangkan peningkatan kes disebabkan oleh varian Delta yang lebih menular.

Bagi penggunaan katil di unit rawatan rapi (ICU), kisah dan gambaran hospital di Lembah Klang yang bergelut untuk merawat pesakit Covid-19 yang semakin meningkat, dan krisis bekalan oksigen di India yang kini sudah tiba di Malaysia, adalah jawapan terbaik.

Bagaimana seluruh negara boleh memasuki Fasa 2 Pelan Pemulihan Negara pada bulan Ogos apabila kes harian Covid-19 akan melebihi tiga kali ganda atau empat kali ganda jumlah purata 4,000 kes setiap hari dan unit ICU hospital di Lembah Klang semakin sesak dan diambang kelumpuhan?

Kabinet Muhyiddin tidak boleh memberikan gambaran palsu dan tidak jujur mengenai wabak Covid-19 atau mendakwa bahawa strategi kerajaan, termasuk pelaksanaan darurat selama enam bulan, bukanlah kegagalan yang menyedihkan dalam perang melawan wabak Covid-19.

Kejujuran adalah polisi terbaik dan kerajaan harus menanggung kesalahannya dalam melaksanakan strategi yang gagal dalam perang melawan wabak Covid-19, kerana rakyat dapat memaafkan kesalahan tetapi bukan ketidakjujuran.

Sudah tiba masanya untuk membuang Dasar Pemulihan Negara dan sidang lima hari Parlimen yang bermula pada 26 Julai harus digunakan untuk menyusun strategi dan pendekatan baru untuk mengendalikan wabak Covid-19 di Malaysia dan mengembalikan Malaysia ke keadaan normal supaya rakyat Malaysia dapat belajar untuk hidup bersama dengan wabak ini.

(Kenyataan Media (2) Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Jumaat, 16 Julai 2021)

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#kerajaangagal179 – From the National Recovery Council to the Battle of Stanlingrad

The important Cabinet meeting on Wednesday 14th July 2021 where Malaysians hoped the Cabinet will rise up to the challenge and draft a new policy to replace the failed strategy and approach  against Covid-19 pandemic came and went without any news except for a statement about unanimous support for Muhyiddin Yassin as Prime Minister.

The Cabinet seemed to be more worried about the existential threat to the Prime Minister posed by decision of the UMNO Supreme Council than the existential threat posed to the Malaysian people  by Covid-19 pandemic.

But what Malaysians gathered from last Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting was a source of concern, as reflected from two events.

Firstly, the “kitchens full” statement  by the Prime Minister which shows that the Muhyiddin government has no idea of the great sufferings and hardships of the people as a result of Covid-19 pandemic and  has no  empathy whatsoever.

Secondly, the tweet by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament), Takiyuddin Hassan, invoking Stalin’s victory over Hitler in the Battle of

Stalingrad.

Taken together, these two events showed a government which is not prepared to admit that the six-month emergency since January 11  is an abysmal failure in the invisible but  lethal war against the Covid-19 pandemic and the need for a new strategy and approach to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and to replace the National Recovery Plan, especially with the world changing its war aims from the original intention to eliminate the coronavirus to finding a formula to live with it.

In its refusal to change course, the Muhyiddin Cabinet has decided to dig its toes in even if it has to paint a false and dishonest picture that the six-month emergency, the total lockdowns and the National Recovery Plan are great successes   in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

But facts are facts and no amount of cybertrooper propaganda can deny them.

By any measure, macro and micro, Malaysia has joined the dubious club of  the world’s worst-performing nations in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Today, we will break the 900,000-mark for cumulative total of Covid-19 cases and we are well set to break the million-mark when Parliament is convened on July 26, 2021  overtaking Portugal and Pakistan to be ranked No. 30 among nations in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases – when eight months ago we were ranked No. 85.

In “Total cases per  million population” index, Malaysia is the highest in Asia, ASEAN and the Pacific, beating China, India, Japan, Indonesia and Philippines, Australia and New Zealand.

In “Daily Cases per million population” index,   Malaysia  not only beat China, India, Japan, Indonesia and Philippines, we are also ahead of United States,  Brazil and Mexico.

We are the word’s top 13th country for daily new Covid-19 cases and the world’s top 14th country for  new Covid-19 deaths.

How can these facts be denied?

The announcement of a National Recovery Council chaired by the Prime Minister to implement the National Recovery Plan is bad news  for it means that the Muhyiddin government is not prepared to admit its mistakes and draft a new policy and strategy to win  the war against the Covid-19 pandemic with a truly “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” approach.

I should be welcoming Takiyuddin’s tweet for being open-minded and probably being the first Islamist leader who  praised the Soviet  communist dictator Stalin for his victory over Hitler in  the Battle of Stalingrad 80 years ago it not for two worries.

Firstly, the tweet carries  the implication that  worse is yet to  come before victory could be finally won in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

When  the emergency was declared on January 11, 2021, the toll from Covid-19 was 551 deaths.  The six-month emergency has seen an increase of the toll by over eleven times, i.e. 6,178 deaths, bringing the total to 6,729 Covid-19 deaths. At the present rate of Covid-19 deaths, Malaysia will see more than 10,000 deaths when we mark our 64th National Day on August 31 – without taking account the spiral in suicides.

How many more deaths will Malaysia has to  suffer before we win the Battle of Stalingrad in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic?

Secondly, we are not fighting the war against any human being or group   but against the new coronavirus.

In order to defeat Hitler in the Battle of Stalingrad, Stalin  issued the “Not one step backwards” order, which saw a Soviet  division with over 10,000 men suffering 80 per cent casualties in the first week in the city alone.

Hitler’s  casualties during the Battle of Stalingrad are estimated to have been around 800,000, including those missing or captured. Soviet forces are estimated to have suffered 1,100,000 casualties, and approximately 40,000 civilians died. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the deadliest battles in World War II.

What is Takiyuddin suggesting?

(Media Statement  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 17th  July , 2021)

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#kerajaangagal180 – So long as justice is denied in  Teoh Beng Hock case, Malaysia has not become a normal country

Twelve years ago, a mysterious death happened at the Selangor MACC premises at Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam. Until today, justice in this case has not been done.

This is the case of Teoh Beng Hock, political aide to the then DAP Selangor Executive Councillor, Ean Yong Hian Wah, who was found dead on the fifth floor of the Plaza Masalam building in Shah Alam after he was interviewed by the MACC at its office on the 14th floor of the same building.

So long as justice is denied in the Teoh Beng Hock case, Malaysia has not become a normal country.

Parliament was informed last July that the reinvestigation into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock is still ongoing after the investigation papers were presented to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) on Feb 24, 2020  and the police were asked to continue the probe.

The Malaysian Bar has urged the police to probe Beng Hock’s case on more serious penal offences based on the verdict of the Court of Appeal in September 2014  than merely under Section 342 of the Penal Code for wrongful confinement.

The Bar Council had said:

“A three-man panel ruled that Teoh’s death was caused by multiple injuries from a fall from the 14th floor due to or accelerated by unlawful acts by unknown persons, which may include MACC officers who investigated Teoh.

“We hope that based on the Court of Appeal’s decision and recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on Teoh’s death, the AGC (Attorney-General’s Chamber) can consider reclassifying the case and investigating it under more serious penal offences.”

The Home Minister, Hamzah Zainuddin, should inform the public and Parliament of the outcome of police re-investigations into the death of Teoh Beng Hock and whether the Police had re-investigated based on the Court of Appeal decision in 2014.

(Media Statement (2)  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, 17th  July , 2021)

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#kerajaangagal181 – The PSC  for Health, Science and Innovation meeting  next Friday should be entrusted the task of drafting a new policy in the war against Covid-19 pandemic to replace the National Recovery Plan for Malaysia to make the transition from “Zero Covid” to “Live with Covid” perspective

Malaysia is setting many dubious  new records in the Covid-19 pandemic  and setting a new record almost every  day, sometimes even multiple new records a day!

Yesterday,  for instance, with 12,528 new Covid-19 cases and 138 Covid-19  deaths, Malaysia  set four  new records in the Covid-19 pandemic, viz:

·       A new peak for daily new Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia  with 138 deaths.

·       Became world’s top 10th country for  daily new Covid-19 cases, after  UK (54,674 cases), Indonesia (51,952), India (41,283), Brazil (34,339), Russia (25,116), USA (24,060), Colombia (19,925), Iran (15,139) and South Africa (14,701).

·       Became world’s top 11th country for daily Covid-19 deaths, after  Indonesia (1,092), Brazil (823), Russia (787), India (517), Colombia (498),South Africa (291),  Argentina (276), Mexico (275), Iran (175) and Tunisia (140).

·       For the first time, there are more daily Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia than in the United States which for a year had been the worst-performing nation in the world in the Covid-19 pandemic and reached a daily peak of 305,178 deaths on January 8, 2021.  United States reported 111 deaths yesterday and compared to Malaysia’s 138 deaths.  For the past two months, Malaysia had  been exceeding the daily Covid toll in the United Kingdom.

A day before yesterday, we broke the 900,000-mark for cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, and  before that,  we set a new peak for daily new Covid-19 cases with 13,215 cases.

In July itself, we  had the first  five-digit figure for daily new Covid-19 cases; moved from No. 33rd  to 32nd ranking among nations in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases; set a new peak for daily active cases;  broke the 800,000-mark for cumulative total of Covid-19 cases;  broke the 6,000-mark for Covid-19 deaths and will break the 7,000-mark for total Covid-19 deaths today or tomorrow and set  to break the 8,000-mark by the end of July, and ad infinitim.

In fact, there is no other country in the world which has set so  many dubious records in the Covid-19 pandemic as Malaysia, just as there is no country which had been able to overtake 53 countries in cumulative total of Covid-19 cases as Malaysia.

This is why Malaysia needs to have a new strategy and approach in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic as the National Recovery Plan had failed from the very beginning, when the country could not make the transition from Phase One to Phase Two.

The reconvening of Parliament on July 26 should not be missed as an opportunity for a new start in the war against Covid-19 pandemic especially at a time when the world is changing its war aim from “Zero Covid” to “Living with Covid”.

Firstly, is the Muhyiddin government changing its war aim from “Zero Covid” to “Living with Covid”?

The National Recovery Plan announced by the Prime Minister in a national telecast on June 15 in a pre-emptive move on the eve of  the Conference of Rulers special meeting on June 16 was drafted from the perspective of “Zero Covid”  and not “Living with Covid”.

Secondly, if the Muhyiddin government is changing its war aim from “Zero Covid” to “Living with Covid”, then Malaysia should draw up a new strategy and approach which embraces two important elements, firstly, the restoration of public trust and confidence in the strategy and approach  and secondly, an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” mobilisation of Malaysian society which was singularly missing in the last 18 months of  the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The  Parliamentary Select Committee  for Health, Science and Innovation which  is meeting  next Friday should be entrusted the task of drafting a new policy in the war against Covid-19 pandemic to replace the National Recovery Plan and  for Malaysia to make the transition from “Zero Covid” to “Live with Covid” perspective.

The PSC should invite public health experts, both in the public and private sector, to give their views on the elements of this “Live with Covid” policy, as Malaysia must move away from the blind faith on lockdowns.

The war aim can change from “No Covid” to “Living with Covid” but there is no one strategy and approach  which can be used for all countries.

At present,  Singapore and the United Kingdom are the two countries with diametrically different strategies for the “Living with Covid” objective.

Singapore, an island state of 5.69 million, and the UK, home to an estimated 66 million people, have had very different pandemic experiences — and outcomes — so far.

While the UK has one of the highest numbers of Covid-19 related deaths in the world — nearly 129,000 since the pandemic started — only 36 people have died of Covid-19 in Singapore. For every 100,000 of the population in the UK, there have been 192.64 Covid-19 deaths in the UK. This goes down to 0.63 in Singapore, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

The UK government was widely condemned for being slow to implement pandemic control measures, such as mask mandates and lockdowns, as the virus began to spread in spring 2020.

By contrast, Singapore was quick to shut its borders, implemented a comprehensive contact tracing and testing program, and imposed quarantine requirements early on.

Now the two countries are charting different paths out of the pandemic; their plans are likely to be seen as test cases for other nations as they ramp up their vaccination programs.

In June, Singapore revealed that Singapore’s authorities were looking to change tack, moving away from daily monitoring of cases to a focus on medical outcomes such as how many fall very sick, how many in the intensive care unit, how many need to be intubated for oxygen, and so on.

Eventually, they hope, Covid-19 will be treated as a less severe disease, like influenza or chicken pox.

United Kingdom under the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson also  predicts that Covid-19 would “become a virus that we learn to live with as we already do with flu.” Johnson announced plans to lift almost all coronavirus restrictions, including the mask mandate and social distancing rules, in England on Monday, July 19.

He said the country’s successful vaccine rollout — under which 66% of the adult population has now received two doses of the jab — has broken the link between infections and severe illness.

But Covid-19 case numbers have surpassed 50,000 a day in the UK at the same time that “normal life” resumes – over  54,000 new cases, and 41 deaths, were recorded yesterday.

England’s reopening with  the lifting virtually all of England’s pandemic restrictions on Monday  has divided opinion in the country and the world.

Government advisers in New Zealand, Israel and Italy were among those who sounded alarm bells about the policy, while more than 1,200 scientists backed  a letter to the Lancet journal warning the strategy could allow vaccine-resistant variants to develop.

A  senior adviser to the World Health Organization (WHO) has even said: “We cannot understand why this is happening in spite of the scientific knowledge that you have.”

In contrast,  in Singapore,  which recorded 68 new Covid-19 cases yesterday; no firm date has yet been set for its reopening.

Singapore’s roadmap diverged considerably from the UK’s “big bang approach” to reopening.

Singapore government officials  said  that “the balance will shift,” but mitigation and containment measures would not be abandoned. Instead,  Singapore’s reopening would be gradual, “package by package — nothing ‘big bang’ — and each step of the way, make sure we keep populations safe.”

Malaysia must begin to formulate  its own strategy and approach to the “Live with

Covid” policy.

Is the Muhyiddin government prepared to work with Parliament to  begin the process?

(Media Statement  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 18th  July , 2021)

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#kerajaangagal182 – Adham Baba must explain what decision the Cabinet had taken on the “contract doctor”  issue

Two days before the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 14th July, the Health Minister Adham Baba said the Cabinet would decide on the long-outstanding “contract doctor” issue.

Adham owes it not only to the contract doctors but to all Malaysians in the face of a worsening 18-month Covid-19 pandemic as the contract doctors are the front-liners in the pandemic as to  what decision the Cabinet had taken on this issue.

The is the least that Adham Baba must do if he is to  begin to redeem his credibility as a Health Minister.

Otherwise, what he says would have no value whatsoever.

(Media Statement (2)  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, 18th  July , 2021)

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#kerajaangagal183 – Muhyiddin and Takiyuddin will be held to their word that there would be debate when Parliament reconvenes

(Tatal ke bawah untuk kenyataan versi BM)

The Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin and the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law), Taikyuddin Hassan will be held to their word that there would be debate when Parliament reconvenes for five days from next Monday, July 26, 2021.

Yesterday in Kota Bharu Takiyuddin promised that MPs will be allowed to debate when the “special” five-day Dewan Rakyat sitting kicks off next Monday. He said the Prime Minister had written to the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara speakers requesting for the MPs to be allowed to debate and ask questions.

We do not want double-talk or duplicity. Let Muhyiddin and Takiyuddin deliver on their promise that there would be debate in the five-day special meeting of Parliament beginning next Monday.

As it is, the five-day special Parliamentary meeting next Monday is most extraordinary, as I don’t think there is any instance of any Parliament in the world which had held a five-day special meeting of Parliament solely confined to Ministerial statements. I am prepared to be proven wrong either by Muhyiddin or Takiyuddin.

Ordinarily, a Ministerial statement would not permit clarification nor would there be any debate.

As MPs are to be allowed this time to seek clarification and to debate on each Ministerial statement, and as a different Minister has been assigned to give a core Ministerial statement each day, I suggest that the format of each Parliamentary sitting would be a debate on the Ministerial statement after it had been made by the relevant Minister allowing MPs to seek clarification from the Minister as well to state their views on the subject of the Ministerial statement.

The Ministerial statement can then wind up the debate at the end of each sitting, responding to the clarifications sought and the views expressed by Members of Parliament.

As there is no Question Time, each sitting will have six hours of debate time. The Speaker should inform the Parliamentary Opposition Leader how many Opposition MPs would be allowed to speak on each of five days of the special meeting of Parliament, so that preparations could be made beforehand.

In fact, as the Covid-19 pandemic had been going on for the last 18 months, and the emergency declared on January 11, 2021 been in force for more than six months, each of the Ministerial statement should be circulated to MPs beforehand although embargoed from publication to enable smooth and efficient parliamentary debate.

Apart from the Ministerial statements, there should also be debate on the Emergency Proclamation and Ordinances. Each debate should be ended with a vote.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 19th July , 2021)

#kerajaangagal183 — Muhyiddin dan Takiyuddin akan dipertanggungjawabkan dengan janji mereka bahawa akan ada perbahasan apabila Parlimen bersidang semula

Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin dan Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Hal Ehwal Undang-undang dan Parlimen), Takiyuddin Hassan, akan dipertanggungjawabkan dengan janji mereka bahawa akan ada perbahasan apabila Parlimen bersidang semula untuk lima hari bermula Isnin depan, 26 Julai 2021.

Semalam di Kota Bharu, Takiyuddin menjanjikan yang Ahli-ahli Parlimen akan diberikan ruang untuk berbahas dalam persidangan “khas” Dewan Rakyat selama lima hari yang akan bermula Isnin depan. Beliau mengatakan yang Perdana Menteri telah menulis kepada Yang di Pertua Dewan Rakyat dan Dewan Negara supaya Ahli-ahli dibenarkan untuk berbahas dan mengemukakan persoalan.

Kita tidak mahu cakap lain buat lain. Jadi mari kita tunggu Muhyiddin dan Takiyuddin memenuhi janji mereka pada Isnin depan.

Setakat ini, persidangan khas selama lima hari ini amatlah luar biasa, kerana saya tidak mengetahui mengenai mana-mana Parlimen di seluruh dunia yang memanggil sidang khas Parlimen selama lima hari yang hanya mengandungi sesi Kenyataan Menteri. Saya bersedia untuk dibuktikan salah oleh Muhyiddin atau Takiyuddin.

Biasanya, Kenyataan Menteri ini tidak memberikan ruang untuk Ahli-ahli mendapatkan penjelasan atau berbahas.

Memandangkan Ahli-ahli Parlimen kali ini dibenarkan untuk mendapatkan penjelasan dan berbahas mengenai Kenyataan Menteri, dan memandangkan setiap Menteri mungkin akan ditetapkan untuk memberikan kenyataan mengenai isu yang berbeza setiap hari, saya cadangkan supaya persidangan ini diadakan dengan format di mana setiap persidangan akan membahaskan Kenyataan Menteri ini selepas Kenyataan disampaikan untuk membolehkan Ahli-ahli Parlimen mendapatkan penjelasan dan juga menyatakan pendapat mereka mengenai perkara yang dibangkitkan.

Kenyataan Menteri ini kemudiannya boleh digulung di akhir persidangan, dengan memberikan jawapan kepada penjelasan yang diminta dan pandangan yang dibangkitkan.

Memandangkan tidak ada waktu pertanyaan jawab lisan, setiap hari persidangan akan mempunyai 6 jam waktu perbahasan. Yang di Pertua Dewan Rakyat perlu memaklumkan Ketua Pembangkang Parlimen, berapa ramai Ahli-ahli Parlimen Pembangkang yang akan diberikan ruang untuk menyertai perbahasan untuk setiap hari persidangan khas ini supaya persiapan boleh dibuat terlebih dahulu.

Malah, memandangkan wabak Covid-19 ini telah tular di negara kita selama 18 bulan yang lepas, dan darurat berkuatkuasa selama lebih daripada enam bulan sejak 11 Januari 2021, setiap Kenyataan Menteri ini sepatutnya diedarkan kepada Ahli-ahli Parlimen terlebih dahulu, walaupun di bawah embargo daripada penerbitan, untuk membolehkan adanya perbahasan yang lancar dan efisien.

Selain daripada Kenyataan Menteri, perlu juga ada perbahasan mengenai Proklamasi Darurat dan Ordinan-ordinan Darurat yang diluluskan. Setiap perbahasan ini perlulah disusuli dengan undian.

(Kenyataan Media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Isnin, 19 Julai 2021)

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#kerajaangagal184 – Muhyiddin’s target of fully vaccinating 100% of adult population by October highly  commendable but is it achievable?

The new target announced by the Prime Minister Muhyiddih Yassin to vaccinate all adults by October to stem the recent surge in Covid-19 cases is highly  commendable but is it achievable?

This would mean the fast-track approach in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) including the  boosting  of the capacity for vaccination rate to 500,000 doses per day, to tackle the emergence of new variants of the virus which are more vicious.

More than four months ago on  3rd March,  I had called for the acceleration of the national vaccination rollout suggesting that the Malaysian Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF) should meet and  consider ways to complete  the national vaccination rollout earlier so that Malaysia can gain full recovery in 2021, including giving consideration to  a parallel Covid-19 vaccination programme supplied and run by the private sector alongside the government rollout.

When I took my first dose of Covid-19 vaccine at the Kuala Lumpur Klinik Kesihatan on March 16, 2021, I expressed disappointment that nothing had been done with regard to my suggestion for the acceleration of the National Covid-19 vaccination roll-out  to complete it  very much earlier than the February 2022 schedule and called for an ambitious plan to accelerate and complete  the National Covid-19 vaccination roll-out during the National Day-Malaysia Day celebrations from August 31st – September 16, 2021 so that Malaysia can begin to return to normality and work on economic recovery by the fourth quarter of the year.

I called for a new strategy and approach in the immunisation programme, allowing not only online but off-line registration; roping more stakeholders into the programme, including private hospitals and the country’s general practitioners, and enabling companies, associations and voluntary organisations to help in the vaccination registration process.

The new target to fully vaccinate all adult in Malaysia by October is quite close to the target of National Day-Malaysia Day period  from August 31- September 16, and I fully support it.

This is most  critical as South-East Asia is facing the worst outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the Delta strain puts intense pressure on the health systems in the region.

Indonesia has reported more daily Covid-19 infections than India and Brazil – Indonesia (44,721) as compared to India (38,325) and Brazil (34,126).

As a Guardian report summed up the desperate situation in ASEAN:

“In Malaysia, shipping containers have been sent to hospitals because their morgues are so overwhelmed. In Thailand, field hospitals are being built at the capital’s  two airports. In Myanmar, social media has been inundated with desperate pleas for oxygen.

“In Indonesia,, the worst hit, volunteer undertakers visit homes, collecting the bodies of people who were unable to access treatment.”

We have reached an all-time high for new Covid-19 deaths yesterday – 153 deaths!

In the month of June, 2,374 people died of Covid-19. In 18 days of July, 1,849 died of Covid-19. We are heading to exceed 3,000 deaths for the month of July.

When on July 3, I berated the Muhyiddin government for neglecting the high Covid-19 fatality rate as it is completely unacceptable for 2,374 people to die  of Covid-19 in June, a Minister treated it as a joke and accused  me of  being blind.

Yesterday, the worst-performing nation in the world for one whole year, the United States, has less daily new Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths than Malaysia – an indicator  of the dismal failure of Malaysia’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

United States registered a daily  peak of  305,178  new Covid-19 cases  on January 20, 2021 and a daily peak of 4,471 deaths on January 15, 2021 but yesterday it had 9,045 new Covid-19 cases and 31 new Covid-19 deaths as compared to 10,710 new Covid-19 cases and 153 new Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia.

Can Muhyiddin explain what is happening to Malaysia’s war against the Covid-19 pandemic?

A new policy and strategy changing the  war aim  against Covid-19 pandemic from “Zero Covid” to “Living with Covid” is urgently needed.

We must restore public trust and confidence and launch a truly  “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” mobilisation of Malaysian society singularly missing in the last 18 months in   the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The  Parliamentary Select Committee  for Health, Science and Innovation which  is meeting  next Friday should be entrusted the task of drafting a new policy in the war against Covid-19 pandemic to replace the National Recovery Plan and  for Malaysia to make the transition from “Zero Covid” to “Live with Covid” perspective.

(Media Statement (2)  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 19th  July , 2021)

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#kerajaangagal185 –  With Covid-19 pandemic causing unprecedented spiral  of suicides, call on Prime Minister to announce that the government will decriminalise suicide attempts and until the law is amended, no one will be prosecuted for attempted suicide

With the Covid-19 pandemic causing unprecedented  spiral  of suicides, I call on Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin  to announce that the government will decriminalise suicide attempts and until the law is amended, no one will be prosecuted for attempted suicide.

The 18-month long Covid-19 pandemic has caused an unusual rise in suicides – with the police recording 468 suicides in the first five months of 2021, or three suicides a day, as compared to 631 in 2020 and 699 in 2019.

Emotional support help centre Befrienders Kuala Lumpur recorded 20,575 calls from January to June this year, compared to 32,710 for the whole of last year.

When the first lockdown began in March last year, lasting until June, some 9,754 calls were received. This year, a total of 14,136 calls were made to the Befrienders during the same period, marking a 45 per cent surge.

This is the time to decriminalise attempt suicide, which is a crime under the law.

The Covid-19 Pandemic has  highlighted the fact  that a suicide attempt is not an issue of crime, but a social and health problem with more people facing the symptoms of increased depression and stress, such as insomnia, anxiety, irritability and low mood, which may affect their daily functioning.

While the number of people with mental health issues is rising, Malaysia also faces the problem of shortage of psychiatrists.

Malaysia’s psychiatrist-to-patient ratio was only a tenth of the one per 10,000 recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

There are a total of 400 psychiatrists in Malaysia, when there should be 3,100.

Like the problem of contract doctors, decriminalising suicide attempts should be one of the agendas of the Health Minister,  Adham Baba at the special meeting  of Parliament next week.

(Media Statement (3)  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 19th  July , 2021)

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#kerajaangagal186 – Most regrettable that Azhar had used most unSpeaker-like language in his reply to the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council

It is most regrettable that the Parliament Speaker, Azhar Azizan Harun had used the most unSpeaker-like language in his reply to the Pakatan Harapan Presidential Council   – a language which had never  been used by any Speaker in the last 64 years of the nation’s history.

The unSpeaker-like language made me check back the PH Presidential Council statement and although I agree that very strong language had been used,, it does not excuse Azhar using the unSpeaker-like language.

I have said that the five-day special Parliamentary meeting beginning next Monday is a most extraordinary one as no Parliament in the world had convened a five-day special Parliament solely confined to Ministerial statements – a Ministerial statement each day.

I do not believe that the founding fathers of the nation who wrote the  Malaysian Constitution and the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders,  including  SO 11(3) for special Parliamentary meeting, had envisaged a five-day  special Parliamentary meeting  with a Minister making a Ministerial statement each day on a core issue of the Covid-19 pandemic.

I also do not believe that the founding fathers of the nation who wrote the Malaysian Constitution and the original Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders ever conceived that there would be a government which dare not test its majority in Parliament in any form.

As a result, we are in “no man’s land” in parliamentary practice whether in time going back the last few hundred years or in space, covering Commonwealth and world Parliaments.

In the circumstances, we have to depend on two things to traverse this uncharted territory in parliamentary practice: firstly the assurance of the Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament) Takiyuddin Hassan that there would be debate when Parliament reconvenes and the information that the Prime Minister had written to the  Speaker requesting for MPs to be allowed to debate and ask questions; and secondly,  Standing Order 99 which provides: “The decision of Tuan Yang di-Pertua upon any point of interpretation of any of these Standing Orders, or upon any matter of practice, shall, subject to a substantive motion moved for that purpose, be final, and Tuan Yang di-Pertua may from time to time issue rulings thereon.”

This means that, subject to a substantive motion of the Dewan Rakyat, the Speaker should interpret SO 11(3) and 14(1) in conformity with Parliament’s role as intended by the Constitution and the assurance of the Prime Minister  that there would be debate on the Ministerial statements.

I agree with the DAP MP for Bruas and former Perak State Assembly Speaker, Ngeh Koo Ham, that the Prime Minister decides on when Parliament is to meet, but he has no say in how Parliamentary proceedings are conducted.

The latter is decided by the Parliament Speaker based on his interpretation of the Standing Orders and general  parliamentary procedures and practices subject to a substantive motion of the House on the matter.

This is why I  have suggested a parliamentary format for the five-day

Parliamentary special meeting,  with the Speaker honouring the word of the Prime Minister and the Minister in Prime Minister’s Office that there would be debate in the Ministerial statements and a creative interpretation of the Standing Orders based on

SO 99  –   debate taking place after the  Ministerial statement had been made by the relevant Minister,  allowing MPs to seek clarification from the Minister as well to state their views on the Ministerial statement, with the Minister concerned winding up the debate at the end of each sitting, responding to the clarifications sought and the  views expressed by Members of Parliament.

As there is no Question Time, each sitting will have six hours of debate time. This is why I suggested that the Speaker should inform the Parliamentary Opposition Leader how many Opposition MPs would be allowed to speak on each of the five days of the special meeting of Parliament so that preparations could be made beforehand.

If this parliamentary format is adopted, it would not do too  great a violence to the system of governance  based on the concept of separation of powers as provided by the Malaysia Constitution and the promise by the Prime Minister that there would be debate on the Ministerial statements.

It would also be in conformity with the decrees of the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the

Conference of Rulers special meeting of June 16, 2021   that Parliament should be reconvened as soon as possible to allow the Emergency Proclamation and Ordinances and the National Recovery Plan to be debated by Members of Parliament.

(Media Statement  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 20th  July , 2021)

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#kerajaangagal187 –Malaysia should   establish a Covid-19 pandemic study centre to learn from the successes and mistakes of other nations and to keep abreast with new thinking on the coronavirus

I reiterate my proposal 17 months ago that Malaysia should establish a Covid-19 Study Centre to learn from the successes and mistakes of other nations and to keep abreast with new thinking on the subject.

Seventeen months ago, all countries of the world were pursuing the “Zero Covid” policy but now,  more and more countries are open to the “Live with Covid” policy.

But the “Live with Covid” policy can involve diametrically opposite strategies and approaches as shown by the United Kingdom and Singapore examples – as it is unchartered territory capable to various combinations and permutations depending on  different environments and circumstances.

Yesterday was supposed to be “Freedom Day” in United Kingdom, where laws requiring masks to be worn in shops and other indoor settings lapsed, along with capacity limits in bars and restaurants, and rules limiting the number of people who can socialise together.

But within hours, the Prime Minister, in self-isolation, performed a U-turn and announced that vaccine passports will be compulsory to enter packed venues such as nightclubs from late September, once all adults have had the chance to receive two jabs.

Labour leader, Keir Starmer, joined scientists to oppose the move, calling on the government for an urgent rethink as cases spiral, describing it as a “reckless free-for-all”.

If we have a Covid-19 Pandemic Study Centre, no Minister would make a fool of himself or herself denying that Malaysia has become a worst-performing nation in the Covid-19 pandemic, despite three adverse international reports, viz:

·       June 2021 Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking with Malaysia falling 35 places from its 16th ranking in January 2021 to 51st position in June 2021 out of 53 economies of more than US$200 billion;

·       Economist’s global normalcy index which placed Malaysia in the last 50th position out 50 countries; and

·       Nikkei Covid-19 Recovery Index which ranks Malaysia No. 114 out of 120 countries on infection management, vaccine rollouts and social mobility.

Yesterday, we registered 10,972 new Covid-19 cases and 129 new Covid-19 deaths – the world’s top 12th country in daily new Covid-19 cases and the world’s top ninth country in daily new Covid-19 deaths.

In the United States, 114 people died of Covid-19 yesterday, but in Malaysia 129 people died of Covid-19. It is no consolation that yesterday, 1,338 people died of Covid-19 in Indonesia and 372 died in India.

The government should  work out a strategy to lower the fatality rate of Covid-19 cases – which should be part of a new policy in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Two new development yesterday in the Covid-19 pandemic which should concern Malaysians and our policy-makers  are:

·       The statement by the former US Surgeon-General Dr. Jerome Adams: “Instead of  vax it OR mask it, the emerging data suggests CDC (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) should be advising to vax it and mask it in areas with (rising) cases and positivity until we see numbers going back down again.”

·       The recommendations by the American Academic Pediatrics for the 2021-22 school year that include everyone older than age two  wearing masks, regardless of vaccination status.

Is the government and our policy-makers  keeping tab with global developments in the Covid-19 pandemic?

(Media Statement (2)  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 20th  July , 2021)

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#kerajaangagal188 – Cabinet tomorrow should extend by another two days the five-day Parliament special meeting beginning on Monday to allow the  Education Minister and Higher Education Minister to make  their Ministerial statements

The Cabinet meeting tomorrow should extend by another two days the five-day Parliament special meeting beginning on Monday to allow the Education Minister Radzi Jidin and the Higher Education Minister Noraini Ahmad to make their Ministerial statements about the future of education and higher education under the Covid-19 pandemic.

To leave out education and higher education ministers responsible for the core issues in the Covid-19 pandemic from making Ministerial statements followed by debates by Members of Parliament is a major mistake and omission, for it shows that the  Cabinet is not aware of the importance of education and higher education for the future of Malaysia!

This omission is particularly inappropriate as only yesterday, former  de facto Law Minister, Zaid Ibrahim had called on Radzi Jidin to resign as Education Minister for the deplorable state of education in Malaysia.

Radzi should defend himself, and there is no better place to do it than in Parliament, followed by a debate by MPs.

The former law minister had accused Radzi of  having no clear direction or made no major decisions  in the past two years, like the replacement for the now-abolished Standard Six examination  since he became Education Minister.

Members of Parliament also want to know about the announcement that schools would reopen in stages from Sept 1 as some students are struggling with Teaching and Learning at Home (PdPR) due to lack of access to online classes; why only 12,000 of the 150,000 laptops promised by th Government to students from B40 families had been distributed under the Cerdik initiative, with the rest to be distributed in September;  why many teachers  have yet to be vaccinated; and many other questions.

The portfolio of  higher education is also important if Malaysia is not to become a failed state, although we have become the world’s worst-performing state in the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Higher Education Minister should give her Ministerial statement as to how her Ministry is to learn from one important lesson of the Covid-19 pandemic –  to restore meritocracy in the public universities to raise the level of good governance in the country.

(Media Statement (3)  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 20th July, 2021)

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 20 July 2021, 2:22 pm and is filed under
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#kerajaangagal189 –  Is Muhyiddin coming to Parliament on  Monday as victor or vanquished of the Covid-19 pandemic?

Is the Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, coming to Parliament on Monday as victor or vanquished of the Covid-19 pandemic?

Muhyiddin cannot come as a victor, for with today’s 12,366 new Covid-19 cases, Malaysia has had eight days of five-figure new Covid-19 cases – and as the new  civil society coalition for a “Health Emergency Action Plan” (HEAP)  warned: The worse is yet to come!

When Muhyiddin declared an emergency on January 11, 2021 to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, there were 135,992 Covid-19  cases and 551 Covid-19 deaths.

We will end the emergency on August 1 with over a million Covid-19 cases and over 8,000 Covid-19 deaths – some eight times the number of Covid-19 cases and some 15 times the number of Covid-19 dead when the emergency was first declared.

Yesterday, we were  the world’s top 12th country in daily new Covid-19 cases and the world’s top ninth country in daily new Covid-19 deaths.

The National Recovery Plan announced by Muhyiddin in a live national telecast on June 15, 2021 is in tatters.

I do not think anybody will dare to claim to be  a victor in the Covid-19 pandemic when Parliament meets on  Monday

But Malaysians, though we have paid a heavy price in cumulative total of Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths, are not vanquished and we are committed to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control and Malaysia back to normality.

The Health Emergency Action Plan (HEAP)  of the new civil society coalition should be the basis for a “whole-of-society” national  coalition to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control and this should be consummated at the special meeting of Parliament beginning on Monday.

There are many things  amiss with the special meeting of Parliament beginning on Monday.

Apart from the questions  of its constitutionality and parliamentary propriety, what is its purpose?

Is it to rally Malaysians to turn the tides of defeat and ensure that we can bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control as we have changed our war aim in the pandemic from “Zero Covid” to “Live with Covid”?

Then the Prime Minister should be leading the charge.  But the Prime Minister is noticeably absent in the agenda for the special meeting of Parliament, which is confined to Ministerial statements by Ministers on core issues of the Covid-19 pandemic – though it  excluded important core issues  like education and higher education.

The Cabinet meeting tomorrow should ensure that the Prime Minister lead the charge when Parliament meets on Monday to turn the tides of defeat in the war against Covid-19 pandemic with a truly “all-of-government” and “whole-of-nation” national coalition at all levels of society to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control, using HEAP’s “Roadmap to Recovery from Covid-19” as the basis for such a coalition.

The Prime Minister should ask Parliament to endorse HEAP, based on its three guiding principles:

1. Trust is crucial to fighting the pandemic and this is based on transparency

2. There must be an all-of-society approach

3. And we need a set of solutions that are not lockdown-based.

The key thrust of HEAP  recommendations are:

1. Interrupting community spread of Covid-19 by having a comprehensive national testing strategy, tracing all contacts, enabling public self-test, home quarantined with monitoring, and limiting non-critical social interaction.

2. Ramping up genome testing to monitor Covid-19 variants.

3. Increasing support for MOH hospitals and clinics by improving conditions for contract staff, growing ventilation and ICU capacity, respite for staff and ensuring a multi-sectoral approach with civil society support.

4. Data transparency and sharing with the public is important. The media should be engaged as partners to communicate better metrics that monitor the pandemic and hospital situation, as well as combat rumours and fake news.

5. Strong co-operative leadership is vital and we propose a national coordinating unit that reports to the cabinet and to Parliament. Decision making should be decentralised to states to enable rapid local action capacity.

6. Vaccination and vaccination sites need to be ramped up with less reliance on mega PPVs and better use of maternal-child health clinics, school health teams and general practitioners. Outreach programmes are necessary to reach those “not able” to register as well as non-citizens. While we want to fix “hot spots”, equitable vaccination distribution is important for all states.

7. Community responsibility and support is integral to making headway in this pandemic. This requires simpler, science-based SOPs, using RTK-Ag testing to enable a return to work, significant improvement in workplace ventilation and a safety net for the poor.

(Media Statement (4)  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 20th July, 2021)

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#kerajaangagal190 – I do not expect any problem with all MPs physically  attending Parliament on Monday as Muhyiddin can declare a failed emergency to combat the Covid-19 pandemic but he would not be able to  live down the infamy of  a “new maths” where 220 is more than 300

(Tatal ke bawah untuk kenyataan versi BM)

I do not expect any problem with all Members of Parliament physically attending the special meeting of Parliament of Monday, as the Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin can declare a failed emergency to combat the Covid-19 pandemic but he would not be able to live down the infamy of a “new maths” where 220 is more than 300.

Yesterday, Muhyiddin joined a congregation of about 300 people to perform the Aidiladha prayer at the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur.

The full capacity for MPs is 220 and it would be a fantastic stretch of the imagination if 220 is more than 300, especially as all MPs and parliamentary staff have been vaccinated.

I do not know why the Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Rashid Hasnon is talking about Parliament limiting the number of MPs at reach sitting to 80, when all MPs and parliamentary staff have been vaccinated.

In any event, it is the height of irony and a reflection of how low Malaysia’s achievements and potential had slumped that we were at one time in the mid-nineties in the very forefront of the information era with the Multi-media Super Corridor (MSC) concept and we should be the first implement a virtual Parliament – but we have lagged so very far behind other countries who were latecomers in the information age.

Let the Parliament Speaker, Azhar Azizan Harun and the Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Saifuddin Abdullah explain why Malaysia had slipped so badly on this front and lost out to countries which had been later than Malaysia in embracing the information society.

The real question is to make the Parliamentary meeting on Monday to fulfil two objectives: firstly, the decrees of the Yang di Pertuan Agong and Conference of

Rulers special meeting of June 16 to debate the Emergency Proclamation, the Emergency Ordinances and the National Recovery Plan; and secondly, to make a difference in the losing war against the Covid-19 pandemic, where Malaysia has become on the world’s worst performing nations.

This is why I am suggesting that the Cabinet meeting today should set a purpose for the special meeting of Parliament on Monday, and that the Prime Minister should lead the charge when Parliament meets to turn the tides of defeat in the war against Covid-19 pandemic with a truly “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” national coalition at all levels of society to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control, and using the “Roadmap to Recovery from Covid-19” drawn up by the new civil society coalition, the Health Emergency Action Plan (HEAP), as the basis for such a coalition.

The Prime Minister should ask Parliament to endorse HEAP, based on its three guiding principles:

1. Trust is crucial to fighting the pandemic and this is based on transparency

2. There must be an all-of-society approach

3. And we need a set of solutions that are not lockdown-based.

HEAP has warned that the worst in the Covid-19 pandemic is yet to come.

Let the special meeting of Parliament summon the unity, will and commitment of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or politics to end the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia as we already lost enough lives – 7,241 Covid-19 deaths and a spiralling rate of three suicides a day.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 21st July , 2021)

#kerajaangagal190 — Saya tidak jangkakan sebarang masalah dengan semua Ahli Parlimen menghadiri sidang Parlimen kerana sungguhpun Muhyiddin boleh mengisytiharkan sebuah darurat yang gagal melawan Covid-19 tetapi beliau tidak dapat elakkan momokan orang ramai sekiranya mendakwa bahawa angka 220 adalah lebih besar dari angka 300

Saya tidak jangkakan sebarang masalah dengan semua Ahli Parlimen menghadiri sidang Parlimen pada hari Isnin ini, kerana sungguhpun Perdana Menteri, Muhyiddin Yassin boleh mengisytiharkan sebuah darurat yang gagal melawan Covid-19 tetapi beliau tidak dapat elakkan momokan orang ramai sekiranya mendakwa bahawa angka 220 adalah lebih besar dari angka 300

Semalam, Muhyiddin telah menyertai jemaah seramai 300 orang untuk melakukan sembahyang Hari Raya Aidiladha di Masjid Negara, Kuala Lumpur.

Kapasiti penuh kehadiran semua Ahli Parlimen adalah 220 orang, dan sudah tentunya 220 ini lebih sedikit daripada 300 orang, terutamanya memandangkan semua Ahli Parlimen dan kakitangan Parlimen telah diberikan vaksin.

Saya tidak pasti mengapa Timbalan Yang di Pertua Dewan Rakyat, Rashid Hasnon, bercakap mengenai had kehadiran Ahli Parlimen kepada 80 orang, sedangkan semua Ahli dan kakitangan Parlimen telah divaksin.

Apa-apa pun, perkara ini menjadi kemuncak ironi mengenai bagaimana potensi pencapaian negara kita telah mencapai tahap terendah, di mana kita pada suatu masa dahulu di pertengahan tahun sembilan puluhan, merupakan perintis era teknologi maklumat dengan konsep Koridor Raya Multimedia (MSC) dan sepatutnya menjadi negara pertama yang melaksanakan sidang Parlimen secara maya — tetapi kita telah ketinggalan jauh di belakang negara lain yang bermula lebih lambat.

Yang di Pertua Dewan Rakyat, Azhar Azizan Harun, dan Menteri Komunikasi dan Multimedia, Saifuddin Abdullah, perlu menjelaskan mengapa negara kita telah mundur ke belakang sebegitu teruk dalam perkara ini.

Persoalan yang lebih penting sekarang adalah untuk memastikan sidang Parlimen pada hari Isnin memenuhi dua matlamat: pertamanya, memenuhi kesimpulan Mesyuarat Khas Majlis Raja-raja Melayu dan Yang di Pertuan Agong pada 16 Jun untuk membahaskan Proklamasi Darurat, Ordinan Darurat, dan Pelan Pemulihan Negara, dan kedua, untuk membawa perubahan dalam perang melawan Covid-19.

Kerana inilah saya mencadangkan supaya mesyuarat Kabinet hari ini menetapkan matlamat untuk persidangan khas Parlimen pada hari Isnin akan datang ini, di mana Perdana Menteri memimpin apabila Parlimen bersidang, untuk mengubah nasib negara dalam perang melawan Covid-19 dengan pendekatan yang melibatkan “keseluruhan kerajaan” dan “keseluruhan masyarakat” dengan gabungan di setiap peringkat masyarakat untuk mengawal penularan Covid-19, menggunakan “Rancangan Pemulihan daripada Covid-19” yang dicadangkan Rancangan Tindakan Kecemasan Kesihatan (HEAP).

Perdana Menteri sepatutnya minta Parlimen untuk mengesahkan cadangan HEAP berasaskan tiga garis panduan berikut:

1. Kepercayaan dan ketelusan amatlah penting dalam usaha melawan pandemik ini

2. Perlu ada pendekatan melibatkan keseluruhan masyarakat

3. Kita memerlukan penyelesaian yang tidak berasaskan sekatan pergerakan.

HEAP telah memberikan amaran yang kita belum melihat situasi yang terburuk dengan pandemik ini lagi.

Marilah jadikan persidangan Parlimen ini satu usaha untuk mendapatkan perpaduan, keazaman, dan komitmen semua rakyat Malaysia tanpa mengira latar belakang kaum, agama, kawasan, mahupun politik, untuk menamatkan waktu terburuk pandemik Covid-19 di Malaysia memandangkan kita sudah pun melihat korban nyawa yang amat tinggi, dengan 7,241 kematian dan juga secara purata tiga kejadian bunuh diri setiap hari.

(Kenyataan Media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Rabu, 21 Julai 2021)

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#kerajaangagal191 – Malaysia will be set on the path to return to normality when we stop setting dubious records in the Covid-19 pandemic – sometimes multiple records a day

On Sunday, I lamented that Malaysia is setting many dubious  new records in the Covid-19 pandemic  and setting a new record almost every  day, sometimes even multiple new records a day!

Last Saturday,  for instance, with 12,528 new Covid-19 cases and 138 Covid-19  deaths, Malaysia  set four  new records in the Covid-19 pandemic, viz:

·       A new peak for daily new Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia  with 138 deaths;

·       World’s top 10th country for  daily new Covid-19 cases;

·       World’s top 11th country for daily Covid-19 deaths;

·       Having more daily Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia than in the United States which for a year had been the worst-performing nation in the world in the Covid-19 pandemic

A day before that , we broke the 900,000-mark for cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, and  before that,  we set a new peak for daily new Covid-19 cases with 13,215 cases.

But Malaysia has continued to set dubious new records.

Yesterday, we worsened further in the Covid-19 pandemic and became country which is ranked No. 31 in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, overtaking  Portugal (935,246 Covid-19 cases) as we have 939,899 cases.

At the present rate of infection, are likely to breach the million mark for Covid-19 cases and overtake Pakistan to be ranked No.30 among nations with the most cumulative total of cases when Parliament reconvenes on  Monday, July 26, 2021.

Malaysia is  the world’s top 10th country for daily Covid-19 cases and  the world’s top 14th country for daily Covid-19 deaths.

This is why the National Recovery Plan announced by the Prime Minister on June 15 is in tatters and a new policy and strategy against Covid-19 pandemic is  urgently needed, especially with the new thinking in the world the change the war aims from “Zero Covid” elimination objective  to “Live with Covid” mitigation objective.

There is however an array of possible strategies and approaches in the “Live with Covid” objective, ranging from one extreme,  the  United Kingdom’s “Big Bang” strategy of “Freedom Day” on Monday which catapulted UK to be the world’s top No;. 1 nation in new Covid-19 cases yesterday (46,558 cases)  to the gradualist approach at the other extreme as represented by Singapore.

For Malaysia, our  path to return to normality starts when we stop setting dubious records in the Covid-19 pandemic, sometimes multiple records a day.

The government’s failure in the war against Covid-19 pandemic has spawned  the formation of a  new civil society coalition called the Health Emergency Action Plan (HEAP) with its  “Roadmap to Recovery from Covid-19” platform, which should be the subject  of parliamentary debate next week.

(Media Statement  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 21st  July , 2021)

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#kerajaangagal192 – Appoint Idrus Harun as a Senator and make him of member of the Cabinet as provided by Article 145(5) of the Constitution so that he could personally respond to issues  during the special Parliament meeting beginning on Monday

(Tatal ke bawah untuk kenyataan versi BM)

I agree with the Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Azalina Othman Said that the Attorney-General Idrus Harun should be present during the upcoming special Parliament sitting so that he could take questions on emergency ordinances.

This could easily be done by appointing him as a Senator and make him a member of the Cabinet as provided by Article 145(5) of the Constitution so that he could personally respond to issues during the special Parliament meeting beginning on Monday.

As there are five days to the special Parliament meeting, the Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin should find no problem in taking this route.

The Battle of Stalingrad or otherwise, the arrangement where the Attorney-General speaks through the de facto Law Minisiter has been most unsatisfactory and inadequate.

(Media Statement (3) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 21st July , 2021)

#kerajaangagal192 — Lantik Idrus Harun sebagai seorang Senator dan jadikan beliau ahli Kabinet menurut peruntukan artikel 145(5) Perlembagaan Persekutuan supaya beliau boleh memberikan maklum balas mengenai perkara berbangkit dalam sidang khas Parlimen yang bermula Isnin depan

Saya bersetuju dengan Timbalan Yang di Pertua Dewan Rakyat, Azalina Othman Said yang mengatakan Peguam Negara, Idrus Harun, patut hadir dalam sidang Parlimen Khas yang akan datang supaya beliau dapat menjawab persoalan mengenai ordinan-ordinan darurat.

Perkara ini boleh dilakukan dengan mudah dengan melantik beliau menjadi seorang Senator dan menjadikan beliau seorang Ahli Kabinet seperti dalam peruntukan perkara 145(5) Perlembagaan Persekutuan supaya beliau boleh menghadiri sidang Parlimen dan memberikan maklum balas mengenai perkara berbangkit dalam sidang tersebut.

Memandangkan masih ada lima hari sebelum persidangan ini bermula, Perdana Menteri, Muhyiddin Yassin, tidak sepatutnya berhadapan dengan sebarang masalah untuk melakukan perkara ini.

Apa-apa pun, susunan di mana Peguam Negara bercakap melalui Menteri Undang-undang adalah satu susunan yang tidak mencukupi dan tidak memuaskan.

(Kenyataan Media (3) Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Rabu, 21 Julai 2021)

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#kerajaangagal193 – Parliament next week should be given  a report as to  what measures have been taken to reduce the shocking Covid-19 fatality rate, which had increased more than 22 times from the daily casualty of  nine deaths before the emergency  to 199 deaths yesterday

Parliament next week should be given a report as to what measures had been taken to reduce the shocking Covid-19 fatality rate, which had increased more than  22 times from the daily casualty of nine deaths  before the emergency to 199 deaths yesterday.

If the emergency to combat the Covid-19 pandemic had been successful, we should be having zero daily Covid-19 death after six months of the emergency,  or at most one or two Covid-19 deaths per day.

Here is the case where the cure  is more than 22 times worse than the disease!

Even if the cure is a failure, it should lead to two or three times the fatality rate but not over 22 times!  This is not just dismal failure – it is a colossal flop!

Before the emergency on January 11, 2021 there were 551 Covid-19 deaths from a period of the first 12 months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now the cumulative total of Covid-19 deaths stand at 7,440, an exponential increase of  more than 13 times in six months!

The is a measure of the magnitude of the failure of the emergency, the various lockdowns and the National Recovery Plan to bring  the Covid-19 pandemic under control, and why a new strategy and approach is urgently needed especially with the new international thinking shifting from “Zero Covid” to “Live with Covid” objective.

The shocking news this evening about the fatality rate of Covid-19 pandemic  in Malaysia has proven the civil society coalition, the Health Emergency Action Plan (HEAP),  right that the worse of the Covid-19 pandemic is yet to come,  and the relevance of its “Roadmap to Recovery from Covid-19”, which should be the subject  of parliamentary debate next week.

(Media Statement (4)  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, 21st  July , 2021)

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#kerajaangagal194 – Azhar must end the constitutional  havoc caused by a government fearing to test its majority in Parliament by upholding the Malaysian Constitution founded on the bedrock principles of  a constitutional monarchy based on parliamentary democracy and the separation of powers  and be prepared to pay the price for his principles

The Parliament Speaker, Azhar Azizan Harun must end the constitutional havoc caused by a government fearing to test its majority in Parliament by upholding the Malaysian Constitution founded on the bedrock principles of a constitutional monarchy based on parliamentary democracy and the separation of powers and be prepared to pay the price for his principles.

If a Parliament Speaker has to decide between upholding the Malaysian Constitution principles of constitutional monarchy based on parliamentary democracy and the dictates of a Prime Minister, Azhar should know what a principled Speaker should do.

The Pakatan Harapan presidential council has urged the Speaker to make several changes to the upcoming parliamentary session to fulfil the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Malay rulers’ decree for Parliament to be convened to debate the Emergency Proclamation, the Emergency Ordinances and the National Recovery Plan to end the Covid-19 pandemic.

Azhar as a principled Speaker will have no choice but to resign as Parliament Speaker if he cannot fulfil the decree of the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Rulers that Parliament should debate the Emergency Proclamation, Emergency Ordinances and the National Recovery Plan.

However, this should now not pose any problem as the Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin and the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law), Taikyuddin Hassan had given their word that there would be debate when Parliament reconvenes on Monday as the Prime Minister had written to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker requesting for the MPs to be allowed to debate and ask questions.

I had suggested that there should be a full debate on the Ministerial statement on each of the five days of the Parliament special meeting in keeping with the decree of the Yang di Pertuan and the Rulers and the Prime Minister’s written request, which could easily be done if the Speaker exercise his powers under Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders 99 and 100.

I therefore call on Azhar to end all the confusion and uncertainty and to make it crystal clear that there would debates on the Emergency Proclamation, Emergency Ordinances and the National Recovery Plan at the Parliament special meeting beginning on Monday.

As for Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker, Rashid Hasnon’s suggestion of limiting the number of MPs at each sitting to 80, I do not see any problem of all MPs physically attending the Parliament special meeting as all MPs have been vaccinated.

Furthermore, as Muhyiddin had joined a congregation of about 300 people to perform the Aidiladha prayer at the National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, I do not see any problem as Muhyiddin can declare a failed emergency to combat the Covid-19 pandemic but he will not be able to live down the infamy for all times for advocating a “new maths” where 220 is more than 300.

We must ensure that the Parliament special meeting beginning Monday meet two objectives: firstly, fulfil the decree of the Yang di Pertuan Agong and Conference of Rulers special meeting of June 16 for Parliament to debate the Emergency Proclamation, the Emergency Ordinances and the National Recovery Plan; and secondly, to make a difference in the losing war against the Covid-19 pandemic, where Malaysia has become one the world’s worst performing nations.

This is why I had suggested that the Cabinet meeting yesterday should set a purpose for the special meeting of Parliament beginning on Monday, and that the Prime Minister should lead the charge when Parliament meets to turn the tides of defeat in the war against Covid-19 pandemic with a truly “all-of-government” and “whole-of-nation” national coalition at all levels of society to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control.

I also suggested that the “Roadmap to Recovery from Covid-19” platform drawn up by the new civil society coalition, the Health Emergency Action Plan (HEAP), should be the basis of debate in next week’s Parliament special meeting.

It is most regrettable that there had been silence after the Cabinet meeting yesterday. Can we have some enlightenment from the Prime Minister?

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 22nd July , 2021)

#kerajaangagal194 — Azhar perlu menghentikan keadaan kucar-kacir akibat ketakutan kerajaan untuk menguji sokongan majoritinya di Parlimen dengan menegakkan Perlembagaan Malaysia yang diasaskan kepada prinsip raja berperlembagaan dengan demokrasi berparlimen dan pemisahan kuasa, dan beliau perlu bersedia untuk merisikokan jawatan beliau demi prinsip

Yang di Pertua Dewan Rakyat, Azhar Azizan Harun, perlu menghentikan keadaan kucar-kacir akibat ketakutan kerajaan untuk menguji sokongan majoritinya di Parlimen dengan menegakkan Perlembagaan Malaysia yang diasaskan kepada prinsip raja berperlembagaan dengan demokrasi berparlimen dan pemisahan kuasa, dan beliau perlu bersedia untuk merisikokan jawatan beliau demi prinsip.

Sekiranya Speaker Dewan Rakyat perlu memilih di antara menegakkan prinsip-prinsip asas Perlembagaan Persekutuan dan arahan Perdana Menteri, Azhar perlu tahu apa yang perlu dilakukan oleh seorang Yang di Pertua yang berprinsip.

Majlis Presiden Pakatan Harapan telah menggesa Speaker untuk membuat beberapa perubahan kepada sesi sidang Parlimen yang akan datang untuk memenuhi titah Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di Pertuan Agong dan Majlis Raja-raja supaya Parlimen dipanggil bersidang untuk membahaskan Proklamasi Darurat, Ordinan Darurat, dan Pelan Pemulihan Negara untuk mengekang pandemik Covid-19.

Azhar, sebagai seorang Speaker yang berprinsip, tidak mempunyai pilihan lain selain daripada meletakkan jawatan sekiranya beliau tidak dapat memenuhi perkara ini.

Namun, perkara ini tidak sepatutnya menjadi masalah, memandangkan Perdana Menteri, Muhyiddin Yassin, dan Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Parlimen dan Undang-undang), Takiyuddin Hassan, telah menjanjikan yang akan ada perbahasan apabila Parlimen bersidang pada hari Isnin, memandangkan Perdana Menteri telah pun menulis kepada Speaker Dewan Rakyat untuk memberikan ruang kepada Ahli Parlimen berbahas dan mengemukakan soalan.

Saya telah cadangkan supaya ada perbahasan penuh untuk setiap kenyataan menteri dalam setiap hari persidangan khas Parlimen ini dan perkara ini boleh dilaksanakan dengan mudah oleh Speaker melalui kuasanya di bawah Peraturan Mesyuarat 99 dan 100.

Oleh itu, saya seru Azhar untuk hentikan sebarang kekeliruan dan ketidaktentuan dan menjelaskan kepada semua bahawa akan ada perbahasan mengenai Proklamasi Darurat, Ordinan-ordinan Darurat, dan Pelan Pemulihan Negara apabila Parlimen bersidang semula pada hari Isnin.

Mengenai cadangan Timbalan Yang di Pertua Dewan Rakyat, Rashid Hasnon, supaya jumlah Ahli Parlimen dalam Dewan dihadkan kepada 80 orang, saya tidak nampak sebarang masalah untuk Ahli-ahli Parlimen menghadiri sidang ini secara fizikal, memandangkan semua Ahli-ahli Parlimen telah menerima vaksin.

Tambahan lagi, memandangkan Muhyiddin telah menyertai jemaah seramai 300 orang untuk melakukan sembahyang Hari Raya Aidiladha di Masjid Negara, Kuala Lumpur, saya tidak nampak sebarang masalah dengan persidangan seramai 220 orang.

Kita perlu pastikan yang persidangan khas Parlimen bermula Isnin depan ini memenuhi dua matlamat: pertamanya memenuhi titah Yang di Pertuan Agong dan Majlis Raja-raja untuk membahaskan Proklamasi Darurat, Ordinan-ordinan Darurat, dan Pelan Pemulihan Negara, dan keduanya, untuk membawa perubahan dalam usaha kita melawan wabak Covid-19, di mana Malaysia kini dilihat sebagai antara negara dengan prestasi terburuk dalam mengekang penularan wabak ini.

Kerana itulah saya cadangkan mesyuarat Kabinet semalam untuk menetapkan matlamat yang jelas untuk persidangan khas pada Isnin depan ini, supaya Perdana Menteri dapat memimpin usaha negara apabila Parlimen bersidang untuk membawa pendekatan yang benar-benar melibatkan keseluruhan kerajaan dan keseluruhan masyarakat di setiap peringkat masyarakat dalam negara.

Saya juga telah cadangkan yang “Rangka Kerja Pemulihan Covid-19” yang dibentangkan oleh persatuan sivil Health Emergency Action Plan dijadikan asas perbahasan minggu hadapan.

Amat mengecewakan apabila terdapat kesunyian sahaja selepas mesyuarat Kabinet semalam. Bolehkah kita dapatkan sebarang berita baik daripada Perdana Menteri?

(Kenyataan Media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Khamis, 22 Julai 2021)

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#kerajaangagal195 – It is time that the  Muhyiddin government takes Malaysia’s high Covid-19 fatality rate seriously, as with yesterday’s 199 Covid-19 deaths, Malaysia has one of the highest “daily  Covid-19 death per million population” ratio in the world, higher  than both Indonesia and India

It is time that the  Muhyiddin government takes Malaysia’s high Covid-19  fatality rate seriously, as with yesterday’s 199 Covid-19 deaths, Malaysia has one of the highest “daily Covid-19 death per million population” ratio in the world, higher  than both Indonesia and India.

Yesterday, Malaysia not only set  a new peak for daily new  Covid-19 deaths, with a toll of 199 yesterday, Malaysia also set a new peak for “daily Covid-19 deaths per million population”  higher than Indonesia and India, not to mention the United States of America, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Philippines and Myanmar.

Malaysia became  the world’s Top 11th country in the most number of  daily new Covid-19 deaths after Brazil (1,388 deaths), Indonesia (1,383), Russia (783),  South Africa (516), India (510), Argentina (437), United States of America (411), Colombia (351), Mexico (341) and Myanmar (247).

Yesterday, the 199  daily Covid-19 deaths was an increase by more than  22 times from the daily casualty of nine deaths  on January 10, 2021 – the eve of  the emergency which was declared on January 11, 2021.

If the emergency to combat the Covid-19 pandemic had been successful, we should be having zero daily Covid-19 death after six months of the emergency,  or at most one or two Covid-19 deaths per day.

Here is the case where the cure  is more than 22 times worse than the disease!

Even if the cure is a failure, it should lead to two or three times the fatality rate but not over 22 times!  This is not just dismal failure – it is a colossal flop!

Before the emergency on January 11, 2021 there were 551 Covid-19 deaths from a period of the first 12 months of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now the cumulative total of Covid-19 deaths stand at 7,440, an exponential increase of  more than 13 times in six months!

The is a measure of the magnitude of the failure of the emergency, the various lockdowns and the National Recovery Plan to bring  the Covid-19 pandemic under control, and why a new strategy and approach is urgently needed especially with the new international thinking shifting from “Zero Covid” to “Live with Covid” objective.

Today we read of the heart-wrenching news of a woman with Covid-19 who died in front of a clinic in Klang on the way there to seek treatment.

The incident occurred about 9.45am yesterday, when the woman and a younger sibling went to seek treatment at the clinic.

When in front of the clinic, the woman suddenly collapsed and became unconscious. Ambulance arriving at the location confirmed that she had passed away.

There have been an increase  of cases where those infected died before reaching a hospital.

Yesterday, the media reported that the Perak Islamic Religious Department (JAIPk) is thinking of  the possibility of implementing multi-level graves to resolve the issue of dense Muslim cemeteries following the recent increase in deaths involving Covid-19 patients.

When will the Muhyiddin government take a serious attitude to the high Covid-19 fatality rate?

(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 22nd  July , 2021)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 22 July 2021, 11:41 am and is filed under
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#kerajaangagal196 – The refusal to replace the  National Recovery Plan is why Malaysia has become one of the world’s worst performing nations in the Covid-19 pandemic

Yesterday, Deputy Prime  Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that the government will not revise its criteria for the various phases of the National Recovery Plan even as Terengganu, which is in Phase 2, recorded the highest infection rate.

Ismail Sabri said the government will maintain the existing main criteria, namely the number of daily infections recorded, the ICU capacity of the particular state, and the rate of vaccination because the Covid-19 pandemic is “dynamic”.

Ismail Sabri has unintentionally highlighted the major  weakness of the government’s response to the 18-month long  Covid-19 pandemic – the pandemic is “dynamic” while the Muhyiddin government’s response is not!

How can the Covid-19 National Recovery Plan  be dynamic when  Covid-19 toll rate is not one of its main criteria?

The refusal to replace the National Recovery Plan is why Malaysia has become one of the world’s worst performing nations in the Covid-19 pandemic.

When the National Recovery Plan was unveiled by the Prime Minister in  a live national telecast on June 15,  there were 101 new Covid-19 deaths that day and the cumulative total was 4,069 Covid-19 deaths.  Yesterday, a new daily peak of Covid-19 deaths of 199 was recorded, with the cumulative total of Covid-19 deaths reaching 7,440.  But Covid-19’s fatality rate is never considered as one of the main criteria for the National Recovery Plan.

The lack of agility and nimbleness in National  Recovery Plan came to immediate light – the inability to transition from Phase One to Phase two at the end of June  because of increasing infections. But what about increasing Covid-19 deaths?

As a result, we have to find ways to go around the National Recovery Plan by allowing states to make the transition from one phase to another.

But immediate problems arise when states which subsequently  face high infection rate, like Terengganu, which is in Phase 2 but  recorded the highest infection rate in the country at 1.31, while densely populated Selangor in Phase One   is 1.12. The national average, according to the Ministry of Health is, 1.12 as of July 20.

Experts have urged the government to do away with the “bunker mentality” of enforcing lockdowns to curb the rising numbers of Covid-19 infections, which have seen the country with a five-figure infection for  the last nine consecutive days despite  the strict movement controls imposed since June.

But the biggest indictment of the failure of the government war against Covid-19 pandemic was the formation of the new civil society coalition, the  Health Emergency Action Plan (HEAP),  calling for a truly “whole-of-society” strategy to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control.

HEAP produced a  “Roadmap to Recovery from Covid-19” which stressed three guiding principles:

1. Trust is crucial to fighting the pandemic and this is based on transparency

2.There must be an all-of-society approach

3.Need for  a set of solutions that are not lockdown-based.

The question is whether the Muhyiddin government is listening and would draft a new strategy and approach to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control in a “Live with Covid” instead of a “Zero Covid” approach.

(Media Statement (3) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 22nd  July , 2021)

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 22 July 2021, 2:54 pm and is filed under
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#kerajaangagal197 – Muhyiddin should give Ministerial Statement in Parliament next week to explain whether Syed Saddiq is victim of political prosecution and why he was charged in court seven months after the consent to prosecute had been given

(Tatal ke bawah untuk kenyataan versi BM)

The Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, should give a Ministerial statement in Parliament next week to explain whether the MP for Muar, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, is a victim of political prosecution and why he was charged in court seven months after the consent to prosecute him had been given.

Muhyiddin should also enumerate the persons who were charged in court one month, two months, three months, four months, five months, six months and seven months after the consent to prosecute had been given by the Public Prosecutor.

If Muhyiddin is unable to give a satisfactory explanation, then Syed Saddiq’s charge that his prosecution was politically-motivated stands as well as his warning that several other MPs were also being “targeted” by the authorities with corruption investigations launched against them.

Malaysia had been plunged into a constitutional havoc this year as a result of a government which is mortally afraid to test its majority support in Parliament but it is completely unacceptable and a gross abuse of state institutions to prosecute or penalise Members of Parliament just to save the government of the day.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 23rd July , 2021)

#kerajaangagal197 — Muhyiddin perlu memberikan Kenyataan Menteri di Parlimen untuk menjelaskan mengapa Syed Saddiq menjadi mangsa pendakwaan politik dan mengapa beliau hanya didakwa tujuh bulan selepas kelulusan diberi untuk pendakwaan

Perdana Menteri, Muhyiddin Yassin, perlu memberikan Kenyataan Menteri di Parlimen untuk menjelaskan mengapa Syed Saddiq menjadi mangsa pendakwaan politik dan mengapa beliau hanya didakwa tujuh bulan selepas kelulusan diberi untuk pendakwaan.

Muhyiddin juga perlu menyenaraikan jumlah orang yang hanya didakwa di mahkamah sebulan, atau dua, tiga, empat, lima, enam, atau tujuh bulan selepas diberikan kelulusan untuk didakwa oleh Pendakwa Raya.

Sekiranya Muhyiddin gagal memberikan penjelasan yang memuaskan, maka dakwaan Syed Saddiq yang pertuduhan ini didorong oleh tujuan politik adalah betul, begitu juga dengan amaran beliau bahawa beberapa Ahli-ahli Parlimen lain yang kini juga disasarkan oleh “pihak berkuasa” dengan siasatan rasuah terhadap mereka.

Malaysia telah terjunam dalam situasi kucar-kacir kerana kerajaan yang teramat takut untuk menguji sokongannya di Parlimen, namun amatlah tidak boleh diterima apabila terdapat cubaan untuk menyalahgunakan institusi negara untuk mendakwa dan menghukum Ahli-ahli Parlimen hanya semata-mata untuk menyelamatkan kerajaan.

(Kenyataan Media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Jumaat, 23 Julai 2021)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 23 July 2021, 7:52 am and is filed under
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#kerajaangagal198 – Malaysia is  likely to overtake Pakistan to be ranked No. 30 among countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases and to break the million-mark for Covid-19 cases when Parliament convenes on Monday

Malaysia is  likely to overtake Pakistan to be ranked No. 30 among countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases and to  break the million-mark for Covid-19 cases when Parliament convenes on Monday.

This is a mark of the severity and magnitude of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia, after being classed among countries which are the worst performers in the Covid-19 pandemic after 18 months – despite a six-month emergency, the numerous lockdowns and the National  Recovery Plan to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control.

The Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has apologised for his government’s bungling of its Covid-19 vaccine rollout. Would the Malaysian Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin do the same as the country is faced with the “pandemic of the unvaccinated”?

After five months of the national vaccination rollout, we have only achieved 15% of the population who have  completed the two-dose vaccination.

If the Prime Minister’s new target to vaccinate all adults by October is achieved, we face more than two months of a rampaging Covid-19 pandemic, with the Delta variant paralysing health systems in South-East Asia, especially Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar.

On the verge of joining the Club of 31 nations with cumulative total of more than a million  Covid-19 cases, we must be prepared to re-evaluate where we have gone wrong in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic and a revamp of the communications policy as  in the age of social media, it is not possible to hide the truth from the public.

Government attempts to deny heart-wrenching reports and videos of  public hospitals in the Klang Valley  on breaking-point can only compound the deficit of public trust and confidence on official accounts, when it is paramount importance to regain public trust and confidence with a policy of truth and  transparency.

The government should not deny that Malaysia is facing a public health crisis  when the Selayang Hospital has been converted from a hybrid into a third  full Covid-19 hospital after Sungai Buloh Hospital and Ampang Hospital  because of the staggeringly high rate of Covid-19 infections.

If Wuhan  in  China can build a make-shift hospital with 1,000 beds in 10 days early last year, why can’t Malaysia build make-shift hospitals in the Klang Valley to meet the spiralling need for emergency hospital facilities in the last 18 months or  in the last six months of the emergency?

As I had warned more than a week ago, the Muhyiddin government must ensure that the oxygen crisis that recently paralysed India does not come to Malaysia.

This is the time for a new policy to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and not to repeat the mistakes of the past 18 months.

Is the Parliament meeting on Monday to  mark a new policy and strategy to combat Covid-19 pandemic or is it to repeat the mistakes of the past?

(Media Statement (2)  by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 23rd   July , 2021)

                This entry was posted on Friday, 23 July 2021, 8:57 am and is filed under
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