MP SPEAKS | Are all parties prepared to save Malaysia in 2021?
MP SPEAKS | The refusal of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's cabinet to summon a special Parliament to address Malaysia’s losing-control of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is the height of irresponsibility of a kakistocracy.
It is accompanied by the failure of the government for the last 10 months to launch an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach to save lives and livelihoods in the pandemic and to plan for a quick and sustainable post-pandemic economic and national recovery.
The other sins of the Muhyiddin cabinet include the failure to have a hands-on and effective health minister to spearhead the war against Covid-19, as well as the irresponsible attitude and misconduct of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) ministers and leaders who refused to set an example of complying with the SOPs. This has deepened public distrust in the Muhyiddin government despite its reasonably well performance during the second wave of the pandemic.
It is horrifying that in the midst of this “once-a-century” crisis, when all thoughts should be focussed on how to overcome the pandemic with minimum loss of lives and livelihoods, the major party in the ruling coalition is obsessed with holding a general election to recapture power and enable their leaders to escape prisons terms for their kleptocracy...
MP SPEAKS | The refusal of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's cabinet to summon a special Parliament to address Malaysia losing control of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is the height of irresponsibility of a kakistocracy.
It is accompanied by the failure of the government for the last 10 months to launch an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach to save lives and livelihoods in the pandemic and to plan for a quick and sustainable post-pandemic economic and national recovery.
The other sins of the Muhyiddin cabinet include the failure to have a hands-on and effective health minister to spearhead the war against Covid-19, as well as the irresponsible attitude and misconduct of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) ministers and leaders who refused to set an example of complying with the SOPs. All this has deepened public distrust in the Muhyiddin government despite its reasonably well performance during the second wave of the pandemic.
It is horrifying that in the midst of this “once-a-century” crisis, when all thoughts should be focused on how to overcome the pandemic with minimum loss of lives and livelihoods, the major party in the ruling coalition is obsessed with holding a general election to recapture power and enable their leaders to escape prisons terms for their kleptocracy.
Tamrin Abdul Ghafar in his New Year blogpost, wrote:
"Oleh kerana memerlukan sokongan orang Melayu yang telah jauh hati, kini tanpa segan silu pemimpin-pemimpin Umno mula meniup seruling dengan harapan tikus-tikus yang boleh diperbodohkan lagi akan mengikut mereka sehingga mati kelemasan di dalam longkang.
Orang Melayu mesti berani dan tidak membenarkan lagi diri dari terus ditipu oleh pemimpin-pemimpin Melayu sendiri."
(Because they need the support of the Malays, Umno leaders now play the pipe hoping the rats that can be fooled again follow them until they die drowning in the drain.
Malays must be brave and no longer allow themselves to be fooled by their own Malay leaders.)
Malaysia has lost its way in the sixth decade of its nationhood and we have failed to fulfil the aspiration of Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, for the country to be “a beacon of hope in a difficult and troubled world”, to the extent that there are now cabinet ministers who reject the five Rukun Negara nation-building principles formulated during Tun Razak’s premiership and benefit from our unique position as the confluence of four great civilisations - Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western - to build a great Malaysian civilisation. This is also why Vision 2020 failed.
Did the first three prime ministers -Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn - strive for Malaysia to be notorious on the world stage only to now be a kleptocracy?
We need a new national consensus to restore our original dream for Malaysia to be a world-class great nation.
Are all political parties in the country prepared to meet to save Malaysia from the two great problems of 2021 - the Covid-19 pandemic and corruption?
Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has warned that with the surge of Covid-19 infections, the health system is at breaking point. He said the healthcare system was struggling to cope with the number of patients.
The most recent iteration of the conditional movement control order (MCO) has failed to bring the pandemic under control. Instead, daily new case numbers, as well as the infectivity rate (R0), have been on the rise.
Yesterday, the Health Ministry reported a record-high of 2,593 daily new Covid-19 cases, bringing the cumulative total to 125,438 infections and 513 deaths.
On Dec 30, I forecasted that at the rate of Malaysia’s daily increase of Covid-19 cases, we are likely to overtake Myanmar with a greater cumulative total of Covid-19 cases in three weeks’ time.
I am shocked that my prediction was wrong, as we are likely to overtake Myanmar by Sunday.
I suggest that all political parties meet in a national conference to establish a new national consensus to return to the path to make Malaysia a world-class great nation and to address the two great issues of the new year - the Covid-19 pandemic and corruption.
This is real patriotism and love for Malaysia! Any takers?
LIM KIT SIANG is the DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
