Parliament must be reconvened to debate on the best strategy to combat a fourth Covid-19 wave as we should not continue to bumble and bungle as a poor national performer against Covid-19 pandemic
Parliament must be reconvened to debate on the best strategy to combat a fourth Covid-19 wave as we should not continue to bumble and bungle as a poor national performer against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The East Asia and Pacific region is one of the few global bright spots in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic unlike the disastrous performance of United States and the European nations, and such a success provides many lessons on containing infectious diseases at a low cost to the economy in an era of chronic pandemics.
But Malaysia is the exception as we have performed dismally compared to many countries in the region.
The latest monthly report of the Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking on March 25 again showed Malaysia as trailing behind Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong and Vietnam in our performance as a nation in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Emergency Proclamation and the suspension of Parliament are decisions which are not science-based but politics-based purportedly to combat Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia.
But Malaysia’s inability to bring the third Covid-19 wave under control by bringing the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases to double-digit figures as in last August and yet facing the prospect of an even worse fourth Covid-19 wave is the failure of the national anti-Covid-19 strategy so far.
An article of the official media today entitled “Malaysia at Covid-19 crossroads” referred to the “snail’s pace” of the national vaccination effort.
Why is Malaysia still at the “Covid-19 crossroads” and on “the verge of a fourth wave” one year after the Covid-19 pandemic and why is the national vaccination effort proceeding at “snail’s pace”?
A month ago, I suggested that the Cabinet should find answers to two problems - why Malaysia was having one of the longest waves of the Covid-19 pandemic in the world and how to make the national Covid-19 vaccination rollout not only a success but to accelerate and complete it by National Day-Malaysia Day period.
But they fell on deaf ears.
The Cabinet even ignored the public stand of the Yang di Pertuan Agong that Parliament can be convened during an emergency.
In view of the possibility of a fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic before the third wave is brought under control, will the Cabinet advice the Yang di Pertuan Agong on Wednesday to convene Parliament with the specific agenda to debate on how to better deal with the Covid-19 pandemic?
Will any Minister resign in protest at the Cabinet’s refusal even to discuss this problem on next Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting?
We will wait and see.