#kerajaangagal111 – Will the Cabinet tomorrow restore confidence in Malaysia by ending the emergency and immediately convening Parliament and the State Assemblies?
During the Slim River Perak State Assembly by-election in August 2020, a senior Bersatu Minister alleged that more Malaysians will die during the Covid-19 pandemic if the Pakatan Harapan was still the government.
Since the Slim River by-election on August 29, 2020, there had been 653,140 new Covid-19 cases and 3,843 new Covid-19 deaths.
Is there any Minister in the bloated Perikatan Nasional (PN) Cabinet who will step forward to accept responsibility for these additional 653,140 Covid-19 cases and 3,843 Covid-19 deaths after the Slim River by-election?
In actual fact, the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic to the lives, economy and society of Malaysians is the most tragic and reprehensible legacy of the backdoor, undemocratic, illegitimate and kakistocratic PN government.
Is this what Muhyiddin is going to be remembered in Malaysia – not as a “stupid” but the worst Prime Minister in Malaysian history?
When Muhyiddin Yassin took his oath as the eighth Prime Minister on March 1, 2020, there were 29 Covid-19 cases and zero deaths.
Sixteen months later, there are now 662,457 Covid-19 cases and 3,968 Covid-19 deaths!
Is Muhyiddin still claiming that the emergency proclaimed on January 11, 2021 was a huge success against the Covid-19 pandemic?
The emergency was not science-based but politics-based decision, as no other country which had successfully fought the Covid-19 pandemic had resorted to such a route.
Unlike countries which had not declared any emergency, new Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths have continued to soar until Malaysia has to have another two-week extension of MCO 3.0 of a total lockdown until June 28, 2021.
On November 18, 2020, we ranked No. 85 among countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.
Now, some seven months later, with 662,457 Covid-19 cases, we have overtaken Austria and is now ranked No. 38 among countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases. We will overtake Switzerland to be ranked No. 37 in the world before June 28.
China, which topped the world at the start of the pandemic, is now No. 99 with 91,428 Covid-19 cases.
According to Our World in Data website, for cases per million of population for June 13, 2021, we have as usual been consistently beating the world’s top 37 countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases except for four countries in South America – Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.
The magnitude of the failure of Malaysia’s emergency to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control could be gauged by the huge gulf in daily increase of new Covid-19 cases between Malaysia and countries which were once regarded as worst performing nations in Covid-19 pandemic.
These worst performing nations have seen the light at the end of the tunnel and have even turned the corner, but Malaysia is still searching for the light at the end of the tunnel.
Malaysia’s “cases per million of population” on June 13, 2021 was 179.61 as compared to United States (42.89), India (62.16), France (59.10), Turkey (71.93), Russia (79.54), UK (103.07), Italy (29.40), Spain (108.83), Germany (24.55), Iran (106.05), Indonesia (28.89) and Philippines (60.18).
So far, 3,968 people have died of Covid-19 in Malaysia – 3,451 deaths during the five months of the emergency since January 11, 2021 or nearly seven times the fatalities when compared to the first 12 months of the Covid-19 pandemic before the emergency when there were 551 deaths.
We have also become a top-ranking nation in the world in term of daily deaths per million population.
Are we to continue as a “failed nation” in the world in the Covid-19 pandemic, as reflected by Malaysia’s tumbling by 19 spots from No. 16 in January to No. 35 in the May 2021 Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking for 53 countries with economies of more than US$200 billion?
The first step is to restore public trust and confidence in the government handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
We have today a Health Minister who is a “dud” Minister at a time when he should be one of the “key” Ministers in the war against Covid-19 pandemic.
Imagine what will result in a war which is commanded by a “dud” general!
The majority of the Cabinet Ministers will not declare their individual support for the emergency, let alone the suspension the unconstitutional suspension of Parliament and the State Assemblies, but it is only now that we have a Minister who has mustered the courage to state publicly that it is crucial to have Parliament reconvene as soon as possible.
Will there be enough Ministers at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow to take the important decision that the emergency must end and Parliament and the State Assemblies reconvene immediately?
If there is a such Cabinet decision tomorrow, it would be an important leadership initiative by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Special Functions, Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof, who had previously made everybody squirm when he spoke about the “flying car” when he was Minister in the Pakatan Harapan days.
It is a reflection of the national mood that much is expected of the Special Conference of Rulers and nothing is expected of the Cabinet meeting tomorrow.
This is not the basis of the Malaysian Constitution, where is founded on a constitutional monarchy based on a parliamentary democracy.
But will the Prime Minister lead the Cabinet tomorrow in a historic decision to restore confidence in Malaysia, end the emergency and immediately convene Parliament and the State Assemblies?