Petition calling for Azmin to step down nears 200,000 signatures in 3 days

KUALA LUMPUR – The online petition calling for the resignation of International Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali has reached almost 200,000 signatures, days after it was put up.

At 5pm today, the #AzminLetakJawatan petition on Change.org has garnered more than 197,000 signatures, three days since the campaign began on Thursday.

The counter on the website notes that “At 200,000 signatures, this petition becomes one of the top signed on Change.org!”.

The latest check also found that the petition was steadily receiving one signature every second, showing that the campaign has not lost its momentum.

The influx of signatures is seen as a manifestation of growing frustration over the ministry’s handling of the approvals for essential services and businesses allowed to operate during the current lockdown.

A check on the comments section of Miti’s recent Facebook posts shows an air of confusion still prevailing among netizens and business operators who were unsure of which ministries they needed to engage with in order to gain approvals.

Some of the netizens had asked about security services and the freight forwarding, among others, while one netizen said a lot of essential services applications were still stuck at “baharu” (new) since June 1.

The calls for Azmin to resign came after the ministry under his portfolio reportedly approved the operations of nearly 100,000 companies for the full lockdown earlier this week.

Azmin had said that the approval letters via the Covid-19 Intelligent Management System (CIMS) 3.0 system under his ministry are only given out after the other ministries provide Miti with a confirmation.

He said that 15 ministries have been using CIMS 3.0 to facilitate application reviews for sectors under their purview.

The approvals, coupled with many essential businesses facing difficulty in registering with Miti’s CIMS 3.0 system, are believed to have contributed to the mounting public anger against Azmin. – The Vibes, June 6, 2021