Malaysians are shocked that the data of the last three days of January for new daily Covid-19 infections and deaths are not accurate as the surge of cases was due to a backlog.

What then are the actual figures for the new Covid-19 infections and deaths for the past three days minus the backlog cases?

Why wasn’t the backlog, inflating the figures, revealed at the very beginning but only three days later?

It was previously reported that the daily increase of new Covid-19 infections and deaths  were 5,725 cases and 16 deaths  on January 29, 5,728 cases and 13 deaths on January 30 and 5,298 cases and 14 deaths on January 31 – totalling 16,751 new cases and 43 deaths.

Malaysians are entitled to know what are the actual Covid-19 cases and deaths for each of the days without the backlogs.

One of the greatest problems in the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic is the growing deficit of public trust and confidence in PN.

Not surprisingly because of the double standards on the Covid-19 SOPs where Ministers and VIPs can flout them with immunity,  the flip-flops in government decisions which showed that the National Security Council had not learnt anything from MCO 1.0.

There’s also the refusal  to launch an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in the war against Covid-19 pandemic, and the failure of the MCO.2 to bring down the number of new infections.

Not least is the very obvious “lockdown on democracy” i.e the suspension of Parliament and State Assemblies when Members of Parliament and State Assembly persons should be roped in as key players in an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” war against the coronavirus.

The Malaysian Insight conducted a survey and reported that nine out of 10 polled over 24 hours on the TMI  social media said they were dissatisfied with Perikatan Nasional over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was before the shocking news about the inaccuracies of the data on the daily  Covid-19 new infections and deaths in the last three days!

Public confidence and trust in government management of Covid-19 pandemic have plummeted to virtually zero.

Can public trust and confidence in the government handling of the Covid-19 pandemic be restored?

This is why the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should advise the Yang di Pertuan Agong to convene a Special Parliament on the Covid-19 pandemic to launch an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in the war against Covid-19, making Parliament and the State Assemblies the centrepiece and platform for the war against the coronavirus.

MP for Iskandar Puteri

Lim Kit Siang