1. Malaysia has recorded a new high of daily cases with 6075 new cases today. This shows that the pandemic is getting out of control and without any appropriate policies to tackle it, we might face a Covid tsunami like India.
2. It is not exaggerating to take India as an example because in February they recorded averagely 9,000 cases per day but it rose to 300,000 cases per day in three months time. The total number of daily cases multiplied by nearly 50 times.
3. According to statistics, total cases divided by overall population shows that India would have 18,317 cases per million people. However, Malaysia has also recorded 14,648 cases per million people as well while India’s population is 43 times more compared to Malaysia. This shows that our situation is not optimistic.
4. This government is not rolling out any effective policies or measures to combat the pandemic despite the daily numbers rising sharply.
5. I condemned the government when they decided to declare an emergency and a movement control order in January. This is because if the government is decisive they should have strengthened enforcement and not take the MCO for granted.
6. The government did the exact opposite of what they should be doing. They rolled out various SOPs that were misleading and confusing to the public, not to forget the frequent u-turns as well. This does not help Malaysia to contain the pandemic and it has failed us terribly.
7. This government did not only fail to contain the pandemic but they are also performing poorly on our only hope to end this pandemic – the vaccination program.
8. According to data up to 17th of May 2021, only 1.23 million of Malaysians took their first jab and 760,000 of Malaysians are fully vaccinated.
9. The national vaccination program have already started for 3 months time and 42% of our national population has already registered. However, only approximately 6% of our population took the first jab.
10. Taking the United Kingdom as an example, nearly 70% of their population took their first jab and 40% of their population has already been fully vaccinated. Their daily confirmed cases dropped gradually from 60,000 per day in January to 2,000 per day in May. This proves that the vaccine is effective and effecient in combating COVID-19 as it also reduces fatalities.
11. The government is malfunctioning and Perikatan National must give the public an explanation on the delay. The 2021 Financial Budget allocated RM 3 billion to purchase vaccines and even utilised billions from the National Trust Fund. These were all approved without going through Parliament.
12. Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley are now severely affected areas with a rising demand calling for a total lockdown again. The people are now fed up with the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin and his leadership because it is obvious that the government is incompetent and clueless while trying to contain this pandemic.
13. Therefore, I call upon all concerned Malaysians to oppose this backdoor government and pressure Muhyiddin to resign with his whole cabinet.
14. This is to give Malaysia a chance to breakthrough with a new lineup of leadership. It is urgent that we need a “war cabinet” alike “pandemic cabinet” now. This is to lead Malaysia forward and to overcome this pandemic with competent leaders.
15. Since we already declared the state of emergency, it is time we treat this pandemic cautiously like war. Malaysia deserves a new, courageous and skilled leadership to combat this pandemic.
Phoong Jin Zhe
DAPSY National Publicity Secretary and Member of Sabah State Assembly for Luyang
