Every ounce of my being was to help rakyat during pandemic: Muhyiddin

KUALA LUMPUR – The Perikatan Nasional government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic was not perfect but Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin believes his administration’s overall management of the health crisis was a success. 

In a Facebook post to announce the launch of the book Muhyiddin Yassin: Leading a Nation in Unprecedented Crisis, the former prime minister asserted that the leadership then had performed to the best of their ability to respond to the pandemic. 

“Every ounce of my being (setiap kudrat saya) at the time was to focus efforts to save the rakyat and reduce their burden,” Muhyiddin said today. 

“Alhamdulillah, thanks to everyone’s efforts, we managed to come out of the pandemic phase and move to endemicity.”

The Bersatu president also attributed the success to the support and teamwork shown by cabinet members and civil servants, which he said subsequently allowed for the formulation of a systematic National Recovery Plan (NRP) to move the country into the endemic phase. 

The book, which was officiated by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun earlier today, documented Muhyiddin’s time as prime minister as he steered the country amid the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. 

Muhyiddin resigned as the head of administration on August 16, 2021 after losing majority support, following the decision of several Umno MPs to pull their support for him. 

Commenting further, the NRP council chairman recalled how he was forced to make several difficult decisions for the sake of the public when Covid-19 was first declared a global pandemic in March 2020. 

“As the then prime minister, I needed to balance between lives and livelihood. There was no playbook that could be referenced.”

According to him, among his three biggest challenges in responding to the pandemic were the requirement to act swiftly to curb the spread of the virus as well as ensuring public health facilities were able to cope with demand, as well as implementing the vaccination programme. 

Another major hurdle was introducing various economic packages to the public as the country went into lockdown. 

With the country now entering the endemic phase, Muhyiddin said the spirit shown by Malaysians during the past two years is now required in the country’s recovery process.

He added that the necessary preparations should also be put in place in the event of another pandemic in the future. 

“The government must continue to invest to increase the public health capacity, manage the finances well so that we have enough fiscal space to assist the rakyat during an emergency, and to ensure our leaders are always prepared and brave enough to implement the right policies even if they are unpopular.” – The Vibes, July 29, 2022