GEORGE TOWN – The Umno Supreme Council’s move to withdraw support for the ruling Perikatan Nasional has substantial public backing due to resentment over how Covid-19 has been allowed to tear Malaysians’ lives apart.
Offering this view, former PKR deputy secretary-general S. Raveentharan said this sentiment is prevalent even though many may dislike the Barisan Nasional lynchpin.
People are fed up with the apparent failure of the PN government in bringing down infections, and most importantly, deaths, he told The Vibes.
“I think PN still cannot fathom things. The people are not bothered about politics. They are overcome with the issue of life and death.
Even if they are not infected, their livelihoods are disrupted. There is nothing for them to look forward to. Hope is vanquished in this country.”
Reports of Umno leaders continuing to squabble among themselves substantiate what some people have long thought: the party’s politicians have become obsessed with position and power, and failed to realise that the pandemic is taking away lives and livelihoods.
While suicides are now reportedly a daily affair, neither Covid-19 cases nor deaths have abated despite Malaysia being under lockdown for a good part of the last six months, said Raveentharan, who is also Lawyers for Justice coordinator.
“The people are fed up, so any move to send a message to PN that they are simply not performing is welcomed.”
With Umno figures remaining in the cabinet, and two of them seeing promotions this week, the party may not succeed in fully extricating itself from the PN government, he said.
However, he added, the announcement that it is severing ties with the ruling coalition sends a message that the administration cannot assume it is “business as usual”.
He was referring to Umno’s move to terminate its alliance with PN, made known by party president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi following a Supreme Council meeting on Wednesday night.
Hours before the meet, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Umno vice-president and Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been appointed deputy prime minister, while the party’s Sembrong MP and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is accorded “senior minister” status.
Meanwhile, restaurateur Oli Khalid, who manages the Red Tomato bistro in Langkawi, said local governments, tax authorities and utility agencies must take into consideration the fact that businesses have suffered over the last 16 months.
They have to be fair, and impose assessments and taxes only for the periods when the economy was allowed to reopen following the Covid-19 outbreak, he said.
He said Tenaga Nasional Bhd should charge based on consumption instead of imposing a ceiling rate.
Malaysia has been under a series of lockdowns since March 2020, but coronavirus cases continue to surge, and people keep slipping through authorities’ enforcement actions, resulting in clusters, said Oli.
He said fighting the pandemic requires more than just medical treatment and lockdowns, pointing out that policies must be adjusted to help people cope with the economic damage done. – The Vibes, July 9, 2021
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