KUALA LUMPUR – DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has questioned Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin over his first official foreign visit as prime minister, to Indonesia on January 5, calling on him to sort out his priorities if Malaysia is to win its battle against Covid-19.
Noting the official stand the the visit was to “step up talks to work out the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the implementation of the reciprocal green lane (RGL) scheme between the two countries”, Lim said Malaysia should be looking for RGL arrangements with other Asean countries that have successfully controlled the pandemic.
“These countries include Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, followed by Cambodia, Brunei and Laos,” he said.
“It is shocking that after a year of worsening Covid-19 pandemic, a second movement control order (MCO) and the declaration of a state of emergency, a false sense of priority seems to pervade the Muhyiddin government,” said the DAP adviser and Iskandar Puteri MP in a statement today.
Expressing bewilderment over Muhyiddin’s decision, Lim said that the top priority for Malaysia and Indonesia at present should be to bring the Covid-19 pandemic in their respective countries under control.
“Indonesia is at present ranked 19 among countries in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases and one of 21 countries which had over a million cases – 1,147,010 Covid-19 cases and 31,392 fatalities with a daily increase of 12,150 new Covid-19 infections yesterday.
“While Malaysia is struggling to bring the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic under control after four-and-a-half months,” he said.
On another matter, Lim also questioned the delay in finalising the special Covid-19 committee that will advise Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on the emergency.
“But until now, the special committee which would advise the Yang di Pertuan Agong on the emergency and which was announced by the prime minister on January 12 has yet been formed although Pakatan Harapan responded positively to the proposal by naming the nominees to the committee.
“This should be the priority for the prime minister, instead of a step-up of the preparations for an RGL between Malaysia and Indonesia, when this would in turn depend on the ability of both countries to bring the pandemic in their respective countries under control,” he added.
Calling for a complete overhaul of the strategy in the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, Lim said the government could still launch an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach whereby the Health Ministry would revert to its earlier policy of testing all close contacts instead of presently testing only symptomatic close contacts. – February 7, 2021.
