GEORGE TOWN – DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng says it is unlikely that the performance of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government will improve with the emergency proclamation.
He said with the suspension of Parliament there are no longer any restraints against abuse of power, upholding accountability and transparency without parliamentary oversight or any checks and balances provided by the opposition.
“The sheer incompetence of PN is highlighted not just by their failure to come out with the standard operating procedures for the various movement control orders even though they had four days to prepare (before the announcement yesterday),” he said in a statement today.
“Worse, is the delay in the delivery of vaccines (for Covid-19) by two months. At a time when Singapore has already taken delivery of the vaccines, our health minister is just signing agreements to purchase the vaccines,” he added.
“The excuse that Malaysia did not have RM2.1 billion to purchase the vaccines is unacceptable because it is simply untrue. In cases of emergency crisis like this, not just RM2.1 billion but RM5 billion can be made available. How many more lives will be lost unnecessarily due to the incompetence of this PN cabinet?”
Lim, a former finance minister, expressed surprise at how the 14-day movement control order (MCO) was announced yesterday when the nationwide emergency till August 1 would be called today.
“Why the need for an MCO yesterday with an emergency proclamation today? This has caused confusion about poor governance and administration of the PN government.
He also claimed that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was giving an “excuse” for the emergency to overcome the call for an early general election.
He stressed that only Umno, which commands just 38 of 222 parliamentary seats, was making the demand for early polls, and other political parties including the opposition Pakatan Harapan (PH) and DAP have opposed the call.
“The emergency proclamation and reimposition of the MCO after the recent surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths show that the PN government prematurely claimed credit last year for containing Covid-19, with Senior Minister Azmin Ali making the ridiculous claim that PN government had saved more lives than PH (previous government),” Lim said.
“The time has come for PN to bear responsibility for their failure so that they can address their shortcomings to win this critical battle against Covid-19.
“The endless politicking for survival following Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s loss of parliamentary majority resulted in the PN government failing to focus on the job at hand,” he said in a statement today.
He added that new sources of slow down to economic growth, retrenchments and job losses, as well as business closures had devastated the economy despite stimulus measures from the government.
“Policy flip-flops, double-standards and sheer incompetence by the PN federal government has caused Malaysians to lose both our lives and livelihood in the battle against Covid-19,” he said.
He claimed that endless politicking for survival following Muhyiddin’s loss of parliamentary majority resulted in the PN government failing to focus on the job at hand. – The Vibes, January 12, 2020
