KUALA LUMPUR – The decision to approve which sectors are allowed to operate under the lockdown was made by the National Security Council (NSC), not the International Trade and Industry (Miti), says Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.
Azmin came under heavy fire from MPs during today’s Dewan Rakyat special sitting for supposedly approving operations for scores of factories.
Lawmakers have claimed that this led to the spike in Covid-19 cases.
Azmin said NSC has the final say on all matters concerning the approval process.
“First of all, all decisions are made collectively in the NSC. Before any decision is made, all ministries will be called to table (their proposal of) the positive and negative lists during the MCO.
“After listening to all views, be it from the health or economic aspects, NSC will decide which sectors are positive and which are negative.”
Azmin added that Miti’s role is only to act as a coordinator to ensure those included in the positive list are allowed to operate.
This, he said, is because his ministry has an integrated system that lets it coordinate with all government ministries and agencies and serves as a one-stop centre, in reference to its Covid-19 Intelligent Management System.
Azmin said this during the wind-up speech by Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, who is also coordinating minister for the National Recovery Plan, after several MPs took aim at the government’s decision to keep factories open.
Public members have also been consistently critical of Azmin, blaming the minister for the high number of clusters involving the manufacturing sector.
Earlier in his wind-up, Tengku Zafrul had said since the start of the MCO 3.0 on June 1, a total of 373 of the 735 workplace clusters involved factories, coming up to a staggering 35,642 cases – higher than any other cluster categories.
He also agreed with the assessment made by opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that a large number of cases and clusters in Selangor stem from the manufacturing sector, and that the approval to operate should not have been issued so easily.
Khalid Abdul Samad (PH-Shah Alam) responded by saying that Tengku Zafrul’s agreement means he also agrees the opening of factories is an irresponsible act.
This was what prompted Azmin to step in and provide his aforementioned response.
Azmin dismissed suggestions that the majority of cases originated from factories, noting that since the start of MCO 3.0, 69% of cases were sporadic, and only 31% were from various clusters.
He added that compared with the overall infections during this period, the manufacturing sector contributed around an 8.8% chunk, while also taking a swipe at Anwar for making unsubstantiated claims.
“I would like to stress again, if you want to make an argument, what more if this comes from the opposition leader who is supposedly a future prime minister, do it with facts and evidence.”
In response, Anwar said: “Since the Miti minister appears emotional, I would like to explain that I have not provided any facts that did not come from the health director-general.
“Don’t panic without direction. You must have committed a big offence to be in such a panicked state.” – The Vibes, July 26, 2021
