KUALA LUMPUR – The government’s failure to take appropriate and decisive action in handling the Covid-19 pandemic has led to the late roll-out of vaccines, said opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar said due to this, Malaysia was now far behind many of its neighbours that have begun inoculating its citizens.
“This was among the major weaknesses of the government in handling the crisis, which has raised doubts among the people.
“It is true that we (Malaysia) have made an effort and celebrated success on how many millions (will be vaccinated), but we are far behind our neighbours,” Anwar said during a live-streamed dialogue session on his Facebook page.
Also present in the dialogue was former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and former health minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
Anwar, who is also PKR president, pointed to the Sinovac vaccine, which has been rolled out in Indonesia since early January.
Malaysia, on the other hand, will only commence vaccinations in early March.
“There were excuses (by the Malaysian government) that the Sinovac (producer) had negotiated with Indonesia earlier, but the recent visits by the Chinese foreign minister to Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur were just a day apart,” said Anwar, who is also Port Dickson MP.
“Why have they (Indonesia) succeeded and why have we failed?”
Anwar said the “failure” was likely due to the government’s inability to take effective action, adding elements of the vaccine were also questionable, such as its quantity, costs, agents, and commissions, among others.
“When it concerns the people, even the question of public health becomes a means to make profits. What kind of people are they?” he said, adding that the matter was even raised by those within the Perikatan Nasional fold, including some from Umno.
Anwar also questioned the rationale behind the government’s flip-flopping on whether to extend the current movement control order, and asked whether the emergency proclamation would be continued if the MCO ended.
“It's not about whether I supported the MCO or not, but it (the decisions) must be based on science, figures, and data.”
Earlier in the talk, Dzulkefly said the emergency, which was declared a day after the MCO was imposed, was ostensibly done to rein in rising infections.
“But (what) if suddenly the health director-general says there is no need to extend the MCO, then what about the emergency? If the first (MCO extension) is not needed, then the second is even more unnecessary.”
Dzulkefly also said that much of the government’s current restrictions were not based on facts and science, citing the limit of two people per vehicle even when they were from the same household, and the 8pm closures of businesses.
“Does this mean that the virus only comes out at 8.01pm?” he quipped.
The Kuala Selangor MP also told the health minister and deputies to “pull up their socks” in helping with efforts to curb the pandemic and address the public, not merely leave it to the health director-general alone to solve the problem. – The Vibes, January 28, 2021
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