Media Statement by MP for Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on 22 December 2020:

What a contrast in news reports – Singapore  received its first batch of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine while Malaysian Prime Minister only signing agreement with AstraZeneca for an additional 6.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine

What a contrast in news reports – Singapore received its first batch of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine while Malaysian Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin only signing agreement with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for an additional 6.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

Singapore is the first Asian country to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech shots after it said last week that it had approved the companies’ vaccine and is expected to begin a widespread vaccination programme in the first week of January with the aged and priority work first, and a target to vaccinate the entire population of 5.3 million as soon as possible.

Malaysia? The Prime Minister has just signed agreement for the procurement of an additional 10 percent or 6.4 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine for 40 percent of the population through Covax, Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

I thank the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin for inviting me to his post-Cabinet press conference tomorrow on the pricing of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. 

I am not in Kuala Lumpur and will not be in Putrajaya for his press conference, especially as I believe that Malaysian journalists are among the best in the world and can handle Khairy’s press conference.

Let Khairy tell Malaysians the pricing difference between Malaysia’s procurement of Covid-19 vaccine with other countries like Belgium and Singapore.  

And even more important, let Khairy announce that the vaccine will be free for all Malaysians.

However, if the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is prepared to hold a press conference or a special function to announce that the government is finally prepared to adopt an  “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in the war against the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic, and the new measures in this strategy and approach, I will make myself available for Muhyiddin’s announcement if invited.

The US-based Institute for Health Metrics Evaluation (IHME) projects a continuous rise in Covid-19 cases until mid-March 2021, hitting over 5,000 infections daily at the end of February.

If the IHME model is proved right, then Malaysia will join the top 30 countries in the world with the most rapid surge in Covid-19 infections, as there are less than 25 countries in the world which register a daily increase of 5,000 Covid-19 infections.

On Dec. 17, Malaysia overtook China with more cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, exchanging places with China in the ranking of countries with most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases – Malaysia No. 79 and China No. 80.

Yesterday, on Dec. 21, we surged forward in Covid-19 infections and is now ranked No. 76 in the world, having overtaken three more countries, i.e. Bahrain, Kenya and Libya after registering 2,018 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the nation’s cumulative total to 95,327 cases.

Malaysia is set to overtake more countries, in a trajectory to join the world’s top 30 countries with the most number of Covid-19 cases – a sure and serious sign of the Malaysia’s fast decline to a failed state. 

Malaysians are increasingly concerned about the government’s response to the  Covid-19 pandemic, not just the procurement, prices and safety of Covid-19 vaccine but why the government is shying away from an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach to bring the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia under control.

Lim Kit Siang,
MP for Iskandar Puteri.