Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Tuesday, 1st September 2020:

Are Health Minister Dr. Adham Baba and Foreign Minister Hishamuddin Hussein pleading guilty to PAS charge that the Health Ministry and the Foreign Ministry were guilty for Khairuddin Razali’s breach of Covid 19 quarantine SOP?

Are the Health Minister Dr. Adham Baba and the Foreign Minister Hishamuddin Hussein pleading guilty to PAS charge that the Health Ministry and the Foreign Ministry were guilty for Plantation and Commodities Minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali’s breach of Covid 19 quarantine SOP?

Otherwise, why the silence from them so far to the charge by the PAS spiritual leader, Hashim Jasin?

At the PAS Muktarmar last weekend, the PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin said Khairuddin should be considered a hero even though he broke Covid-19 quarantine rules as his trip to Turkey had brought benefits to the oil palm sector.

Hashim Jasin said:

“He broke the rules but he brought good news, news that brought benefit. He is a hero, like the hoopoe bird that was going to be punished, when it was actually a hero.” 

The Islamist party’s spiritual leader said Khairuddin had been maligned and attacked by opposition MPs, when the fault lay with the Health Ministry and the Foreign Ministry for failing to ensure that the minister complied with the mandatory quarantine after returning from Turkey on July 7.

He said the Heath Ministry and the Foreign Ministry were both “negligent” when it is not Khairuddin’s fault.

Is this the position of the Perikatan Nasional Cabinet, or is it only the view of PAS, unsupported by the rest of the Perikatan Nasional government?

It is most strange and extraordinary that although two weeks have passed, Malaysians know very little about the Turkey trip of Khairuddin and his entourage and their violation of Covid-19 quarantine SOP, the outcome of police investigation and the status of the many lies told when the subject became a public issue e.g. Turkey was a “green country(zone)” in the Covid-19 pandemic during their visit when it was a “hotspot” of the pandemic.

There is even talk that Khairuddin had visited another country apart from Turkey – is this true or not?

There should be the fullest disclosure, accountability and transparency on this and other issues which are of public interest.

Lim Kit Siang,
Member of Parliament for Iskandar Puteri.