#kerajaangagal16 – In failing to establish a RCI on IGP Hamid Bador’s serious allegations about corruption and interference with police independence and professionalism, is Muhyiddin a worse Prime Minister than Abdullah Badawi who set up a RCI on Lingam Tapes with regard to illegal fixing of judicial appointments?

The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Ahmad Hamid Bador is ending his tenure as the No. 1 Policeman in the country on Tuesday with more than a flourish as his farewell press conference on Friday outlined what prevented the Royal Police Force from being an independent, professional and world-class police force and what afflicted the Malaysian society, viz:

  1. Political intervention in the police force.
  2. Political interference in the Police Force Commission.
  3. Corruption in the civil service and the political arena.
  4. “Unintelligent Ministers” who asked to loosen roadblocks during MCO and CMCOs.
  5. Malaysia’s descent into a kakistocracy.

Hamid Bador’s farewell press conference on Friday reminds Malaysians of the “It looks like me, it sounds like me, but it is not me” Lingam Tapes episode in 2007 which led to the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the fixing of judges for appointments and promotions.

In failing to establish a RCI on IGP Hamid Bador’s serious allegations about corruption and interference with police independence and professionalism, is Muhyiddin a worse Prime Minister than Abdullah Badawi who set up a RCI on Lingam Tapes with regard to illegal intervention into the judicial appointment process?

What is holding back Muhyiddin from doing what is right and proper for the country, when he should know national interests demand such a RCI being formed immediately?

Is the bloated Muhyiddin Cabinet just a Cabinet of yes-men and self-seekers who dare not decide on a RCI on the IGP’s many serious allegations?

Two days have passed and Muhyiddin has kept his silence on the issue.

When will he speak on the IGP’s shocking exposes?

On the Covid-19 pandemic front, the country heaved a sigh of relief when it was reported that the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases have fallen below the three-thousand mark to 2,881 cases – after three straight days exceeding the 3,000-mark.

But is Malaysia out of danger from a fourth Covid-19 wave which even the Yang di Pertuan Agong is worried about?

The Malaysian authorities must devise defty and creatively new ways and means whereby human beings can live with Covid-19 virus, as from all accounts, the Covid-19 virus is going to be around for at least one or two years – even if we succeed in accelerating the national vaccination process, which unfortunately, is not the case.

Nations have realised the great cost to the economy and social life if we use blunt instruments like national lockdowns, which will kill virus as well as economies involving human lives.

India is indeed a bad example. On Friday, India became the first country which had surpassed 400,000 cases in a single day.

That brought the country's total Covid-19 caseload to more than 19 million since the pandemic began, and marks the 10th consecutive day of more than 300,000 daily cases, and the new Covid-19 caseload yesterday (Saturday) is still a crippling 392,562 new cases and 3,638 deaths. India’s total Covid-19 fatality now stands at 215,523, the fourth nation with the most Covid-19 fatalities, after USA (590,525 deaths), Brazil (404,287 deaths on Friday) and Mexico (216,907 deaths).

Yesterday, I asked why is Malaysia looking at India, which is undergoing the horrors and devastation of the new Covid wave with shortage of oxygen for the whole country while New Delhi runs out of wood for cremations, when Malaysia should aim to become like nations in East Asia, ASEAN and Pacific with better performance in combatting the Covid-19 virus, like Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand or even Singapore.

I am not surprised that there had been no reply from any government Minister, as it describes a country lurching towards a kakistocracy.

Now, intensive care unit beds for Covid-19 patients at public hospitals in the Klang Valley are nearing full capacity, with 88 percent of the 152 ICU beds available for Covid-19 patients occupied.

Clearly, the emergency and the suspension of Parliament since January 12 have failed to combat the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia.

Will the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin advise the Yang di Pertuan Agong to end the emergency and to immediately convene Parliament to spearhead an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” national mobilisation in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia?

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri