#kerajaangagal99 – Two statements by Marzuki and Hadi yesterday have added salt to a very intriguing evolving political situation in Malaysia
Two statements by the Marzuki Mohamad and Hadi Awang yesterday have added salt to a very intriguing evolving political situation in Malaysia.
In the first statement Marzuki, the principal private secretary to the Prime Minister, said the National Operations Council (NOC), as proposed by some quarters, is not suitable in Malaysia's current fight against Covid-19 and its efforts to revive the economy.
He said the proposal could become a step backwards and inhibit all efforts that have been put in place to tackle the ongoing health and economic crisis.
He said that some have proposed to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to set up the National Operations Council (NOC) which had fully governed the country following the proclamation of an emergency in 1969.
Two things must be noted. Firstly, this is not the statement of the principal private secretary to the Prime Minister but that of the Prime Minister himself.
Nobody would imagine that the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary would emerge publicly to make such a statement if he had not been instructed by the Prime Minister to do so.
Secondly, is the Prime Minister using his principal private secretary to convey his reservations about the Yang di Pertuan Agong’s meeting with the leaders of the various political parties and even the special Conference of Rulers on June 16 on the Covid-19 pandemic?
Why can’t the Prime Minister make these points himself and has to make use of his principal private secretary?
But Marzuki, on behalf of Muhyiddin, had omitted three important points:
Firstly, the emergency that was declared on January 11, 2021 to combat the Covid-19 pandemic had been an utter failure.
In the five months of the emergency from January 11, 2021, the cumulative total of Covid-19 cases have increased 3.7 times from the 135,992 cases on January 10, 2021 to the present 633,891 cases – when it has taken 12 months in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic to total 135,992 cases.
Total Covid-19 deaths during the five months of the emergency had increased at a greater pace by 5.5 times from 551 deaths on January 10, 2021 to the present 3,611 deaths, when it had taken 12 months in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic to total 551 deaths.
If this is not a failure, then the word has no meaning whatsoever.
By any measure, Malaysia has failed miserably and become the “sick man of Asia” in the last five months of the emergency in the war against Covid-19 pandemic.
Malaysia was ranked No. 85 on Nov. 18, 2020 among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, but nearly seven months later, the country is ranked No. 39 - a jump of 46 places. Malaysia will be ranked No. 38 in a week’s time, overtaking Austria.
Malaysia is also the top eighth country in the world with the most cases per million of population for the rolling average covering two weeks from 24th May to 6th June.
According to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker, more than 2.23 billion doses of vaccines had been administered across 178 countries, with the latest rate of about 35.1 million doses day.
Malaysia’s national immunisation programme is still too slow and tardy, as after four-and-a-half months of the national vaccination rollout, only 3.6% of the population had been fully vaccinated while 8% of the population given one dose of the vaccine.
Secondly, it is the emergency which had unconstitutionally suspended Parliament which had caused the dismal failure in the war against Covid-19 pandemic, as it had removed the constitutional role of parliamentary “check-and-balance” of the executive to ensure that there is good governance, government efficiency and effectiveness.
This, in turn, had created an unprecedented deficit of public trust and confidence in the government handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the reason why the government has not been able to launch a “whole-of-society” national mobilisation against the Covid-19 pandemic 18 months after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thirdly, as questioned by DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng and UMNO Supreme Council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi, who is calling for NOC?
Guan Eng said no Pakatan Harapan party nor any political party for that matter had suggested the formation of a Mageran-type government.
This made the statement by the PAS President, Hadi Awang. who called for action against “plotters” against the Perikatan Nasional government particularly intriguing as it raised two questions:
- Why Hadi didn’t call for action against “plotters” responsible for the Sheraton Move conspiracy which toppled the democratically-elected and legitimate Pakatan Harapan government after 22 months and which ushered in a backdoor, undemocratic and illegitimate PN government; and
- Whether Hadi is looking for “plotters” among the royalty?
May be Malaysians can hope for clarity in the evolving political situation in the next few days?