Muhyiddin should make daily live telecast - or even twice a day - of latest development of the Covid 19 crisis until March 31

The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should make daily live telecast - or even twice a day - of latest development of the Covid 19 crisis until March 31.

Muhyiddin’s second live telecast last night on the Covid 19 crisis should have been made by Tuesday midday to show that the government was on top of the crisis and not closing the stable door after the horses have bolted.

His live telecast would have been more effective if had owned up to the government’s mishandling of the crisis, which led to chaos and panic among the people particularly on Tuesday, resulting in massive crowds and panic buying in supermarkets all over the country, long queues in police stations and the double U-turns on permission needed for interstate travel, the shutting down of university hostels which forced students to return home, the lack of protection for low-income workers, no arrangement on children for frontliners and the lack of bilateral coordination for Malaysians working in Singapore.

Australia has declared a "human biosecurity emergency" and Australians are advised to abandon all overseas travel because of the coronavirus pandemic which could last at least six months while another country is preparing its citizens to face the Covid-19 crisis and its economic fallout for at least a year.

Malaysia should not have lost the ‘containment’ war in the Covid 19 crisis, but we must win the ‘mitigation’ war, which is why this is not the time for fault-finding, as all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, politics or socio-economic background, must unite as one people to overcome the Covid 19 crisis.

All Cabinet Ministers must regard the Covid 19 crisis as their top priority, and every Minister should focus on what can be done by his or her Ministry every day to help Malaysians win the war against Covid 19.

For this reason, the Cabinet should hold daily meetings until the war against Covid 19 is won, and Malaysians should be informed through live telecasts the daily development in the war against Covid 19.

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri