Media statement by MP for Segambut, Hannah Yeoh on 13 June 2021:
”Biar Kerajaan Tewas, Jangan Biar Rakyat Tumpas – Kerajaan takut hilang kuasa, Rakyat jadi sengsara”
Total lockdown must come with blanket aid for the people
We have barely survived 2 weeks of total lockdown when the government announced a further extension aimed at lowering Covid-19 positive cases that have shown no signs of a decline.
A total lockdown announcement without any blanket financial aid announcement is a blatant act of irresponsibility by the government.
We want a government that does not behave like a mere prison warden keeping people behind the grills of their homes, sentencing them indiscriminately when the rising Covid-19 cases were contributed by the government’s sheer incompetence and confusing, contradictory and nonsensical SOPs.
How many bags of rice can we continue to give?
How many more food baskets to distribute and for how many more weeks do we need to do this?
When Ismail Sabri stands behind the rostrum to announce the extension of this total lockdown, Malaysians expect to see Tengku Zafrul, the Finance Minister standing alongside him, announcing financial relief instantaneously to help Malaysians cope.
But this did not happen.
Help businesses keep jobs
Just days ago I went to a mall to buy food and entered a fruit shop to buy some grapes. This was the first time I saw fruit being sold at heavily discounted prices because they were no longer fresh and I was the only person there. That sight was heartbreaking.
I thought of their stocks, their rental and the workers’ salaries. We are no longer talking about profit or breaking even.
We are talking about survival.
We are now talking about preventing more from losing jobs and businesses not closing shops. The government slices and cuts aid targeting only for the B40. There is hardly anything for the SMEs who are mainly in the M40. And when the M40 drowns, the T20 too will be breathless.
This government is a bystander, not proactive and employs the wait-and-see attitude. SMEs are in their final lap of calling out for help.
Cut out the fluff
From MCO 1.0 to MCO 3.0, the Perikatan Nasional government has only been about announcing abbreviations (a shortened form of a word or phrase). They make you think there is something fancy there but behind that cool sounding facade, there is nothing.
The PN government learned this from the Najib’s administration – the habit of adding 1 to everything. 1Malaysia, Pr1ma, BR1M and PPA1M. Today, this government has picked up the same habit but abusing and overdosing it. One has to google every single announcement each time you read the news – in addition to PKP, PKPD, PKPB, PKPP, there are also BPR, PdPR, PICK, PPV, JKJAV, CITF, PIKAS, and SJR (even roadblocks have abbreviation now).
This Perikatan Nasional government has been giving us nothing but shortened labels for their shoddy work with an absolute lack of coordination within their Cabinet and Ministries.
The Council of Rulers will meet next week. I hope the people’s suffering will be abbreviated by the shortening of the tenure of this Perikatan Nasional government. PN – Be End : an abbreviation we badly need.
