Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, 9th July , 2021
Following the UMNO Supreme Council decision on Wednesday (July 7) night to immediately retract support to the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the Muhyiddin government tottered but did not fall yesterday.
The Attorney-General, Idrus Harun said that it was not clear that Muhyiddin had lost the confidence of a majority of MPs and that this must be determined by MPs and not through statements.
A top UMNO leader said UMNO’s withdrawal of support was targeted at Muhyiddin and not the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, although the UMNO President, Zahid Hamidi in his midnight media conference had listed seven major failings of the “Muhyiddin government” as the basis for the UMNO Supreme Council decision.
It is therefore quite surprising that a UMNO Vice President could say that Sabri Ismail, who was appointed the Deputy Prime Minister by Muhyiddin earlier on Wednesday, could be Acting Prime Minister if Muhyiddin resigned as Prime Minister considering Ismail’s prominent role in the failed war against the Covid-29 pandemic – apart from the shocking disregard of the constitutional fact that the whole Cabinet ceases to exist when the Prime Minister resigns.
The net result is paralysis of a kakistocratic government while the whole country is fighting a losing battle against the Covid-19 pandemic – six months after the declaration of emergency to combat Covid-19 pandemic, some six weeks after the “total lockdowns” and a month after the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
This is brought home yesterday by the worst news on the Covid-19 front – a record daily fatality of 135 Covid-19 deaths and the second-highest daily record of 8,868 new Covid-19 cases in the past 18 months!
Malaysia now ranks No. 34 among nations in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, having overtaken Hungary, Today, we are slated to overtake Japan to be ranked No. 33, when less than eight months ago, on Nov. 18, 2020, we were ranked No. 85 among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.
We are overtaking Japan a week earlier than I had expected in terms of cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.
As a worst-performing nation in the Covid-19 pandemic. Malaysia has overtaken both China and the United States – China, where the Covid-19 pandemic started and shot to 80,025 Covid-19 cases and 2,912 Covid-19 deaths by March 1, 2020 and was overtaken by the United States from March 2020 and has now a cumulative total of over 34.6 million Covid-19 cases and over 620,000 Covid-19 deaths.
Now Malaysia, with 808,658 cases and 5,903 deaths, has beaten China in cumulative total of Covid-19 cases and deaths. China, ranked No. 101, has 91,966 Covid-19 cases and 4,636 deaths.
For the past six months in the United States, daily increase of new Covid-19 cases have fallen by 70% and in the past five weeks, fallen by 95% of its peak of 304,978 cases in January 2021. Covid-19 deaths in the United States fell from its peak of 4,452 deaths in January to triple digit figures in the last three months and in the past seven days, record a rolling seven-day daily average of 142 deaths or a 97% reduction from the its peak in January.
In contrast, Malaysia is presently facing peak cases, peak hospitalisation and peak deaths.
Malaysia needs a new “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach if we are to win in the war against Covid-19 pandemic, which poses an existential threat not only to the lives of Malaysians, but also to the Malaysian economy and nation.
The Malaysian ship is leaking, and all Malaysians should be on deck on fix the leak to ensure that the ship will not sink.
This is the magnitude of the Malaysian problem we face today.
