Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, May 8, 2021
Time for the worst Prime Minister and worst government in 63 years to step down and give way to Anwar Ibrahim to be the ninth Prime Minister to fight the Covid-19 pandemic
The senior minister for security, Ismail Sabri has an early Hari Raya ‘gift’ and Malaysia has been hit with almost 5,000 daily cases of Covid-19 a week before Hari Raya.
He said two days ago that Malaysia could be reaching 5,000 new infections daily after the Hari Raya festivities if the public failed to adhere to the SOPs.
He said the possibility was raised during a meeting with the health ministry, and if we fail to curb this spike, then the number of daily cases could even increase to 10,000. That could put us in the same position as India.
This was why the MCO 3.0 was imposed in several states and localities following the recent surge in Covid-19 cases.
But the 5,000 daily new Covid-19 cases is almost on us with 4,498 new cases reported yesterday despite the proclamation of MCO 3.0 – a level not seen since early February.
It is time for the worst Prime Minister and worst government in 63 years to step down and give way to Anwar Ibrahim to be the ninth Prime Minister to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, save Malaysia from being a mini-India in the pandemic as well as to be a world-class great nation.
It is clear and indisputable that the Muyhiddin government has failed to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, despite using undemocratic and illegitimate means which, together with double standards on the observance of
Covid-19 SOPs by top Perikatan Nasional Ministers and leaders, had in fact aggravated the problem by creating an unprecedented gulf of public trust and credibility.
All over the world, the worst nations in the past year are improving in their war against the Covid-19.
In January this year, the US was reporting almost 300,000 cases a day as new infections increased nine times, as well as reporting around 4,000 deaths in a day. Now the pandemic is in retreat in America.
In Europe during the second wave, it reported more than 300,000 new cases a day and around 7,000 deaths per day early this year. Now new cases in the European Union countries have dropped by almost 30 per cent.
Both America and Europe employ targeted lockdowns and aggressive vaccination but we lacked both after more than a year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Malaysia’s record in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic is a dismal one.
While not suffering the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic like in America and the European countries in the past year, we have trailed far behind the success stories in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic in East Asia, ASEAN and the Pacific.
In the April 2021 Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking, we managed to rank No. 20, trailing behind Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, UAE, Finland, Hong Kong, Vietnam, China, Thailand, Denmark, Norway, US, UK, Canada and Saudi Arabia.
Now, while the Covid-19 pandemic is in retreat in America and Europe, we have joined countries led by India where the Covid-19 pandemic is on a rampage.
Yesterday, was the fourth time India recorded over 400,000 new daily cases – 401,271 – and the first time it recorded over 4,000 deaths – 4,194 fatalities.
The Covid-19 cases and fatalities in India are on the rise, reaching the cumulative total of 21,886,566 cases and 238,265 fatalities.
Even Indonesia and Philippines, the two countries which have a higher cumulative total than Malaysia, have scored greater success in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Indonesia yesterday recorded 6,327 new daily cases compared to its peak of 14,518 new daily cases on January 30 while Philippines yesterday recorded 7,737 new daily cases compared to its peak of 15,280 daily new cases on April 2.
Malaysia, the confluence of four great civilisations of the world – Malay/Islamic, Chinese, Indian and Western – must not become a kakistocracy.
For the national interest, will Muhyiddin step down to give way to Anwar Ibrahim as the ninth Prime Minister to win the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, save Malaysia from being a mini-India in the pandemic as well as to fulfil its aspiration to be a world-class great nation?
