The Malaysian Insight

PARLIAMENT’S top priority, if it convenes soon, should be to review the national Covid-19 immunisation programme, said lawmakers.

“Why is the vaccination rollout so slow when this is the only way we are going to control the pandemic and open up the economy, education and social life?” asked three-term lawmaker R. Sivarasa (Sg Buloh-PH).

The PKR lawmaker said the government must explain why it took so long for the vaccines to be approved, leading to late procurement.

“Why are we not following countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, which have used private clinics and pharmacies to speed up the vaccination programme.

“In Malaysia, we have outsourced this process to the mega vaccination centres when there are more than 7,000 clinics that can do this for a fraction of the cost,” said Sivarasa.

Perikatan Nasional backbenchers’ club chief Shahidan Kassim (Arau-BN) also agreed that the programme should be the top priority.

“It is simple for us. The vaccination programme has to be expedited so that people can begin rebuilding their lives again.

“We must vaccinate everyone so that the risks of severe complications can be reduced,” said the Umno man.

Since the programme kicked off late in February, 6.3 million doses of approved vaccines have been administered.

A total of 1.72 million people, or 5.3% of the population have been inoculated, while 4.57 million people, or 14% of the population have received one dose as of June 22.

Sandakan’s first-term MP Vivian Wong said the government has to provide more clarity on its efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The current cycle of lockdowns show that the government has failed miserably against the pandemic.

“A whole-of-government plus a whole-of-society approach have to be adopted if we want to beat the pandemic,” said the Sabahan.

Wong said it was important to review what the government has done so far as huge sums of money have been allocated to fight the pandemic.

“Malaysians have a right to know when and how the government has spent taxpayers’ money.”

Other MPs who also said that Parliament should review the programme included Hassan Abdul Karim (Pasir Gudang-PH), Wong Shu Qi (Kluang-PH) and Pang Hok Liong (Labis-PH).

Kalabakan MP Ma’mun Sulaiman believes the government should explore manufacturing the vaccines locally and design a comprehensive exit plan.

“After more than a year-and-a-half of a pandemic that has disrupted most Malaysians’ everyday lives, the government must devise a concrete and formidable plan to alleviate the dire state of our public health, economy, social and education,” said the Warisan lawmaker.

Hassan added that Parliament should be given all the data on the rollout, supply of vaccines and strategies and infrastructures used.

Meanwhile, Padang Serai MP M. Karupaiya said the federal government must speed up the implementation of the “vaccine passport”.

“This will encourage Malaysians to vaccinate. If you are not vaccinated, you cannot travel, dine in any restaurant, or not be allowed to enter any shopping malls.

“Even government departments should not permit ‘unvaccinated person’ to enter the premises.”

The PKR lawmaker said that Parliament should also discuss vaccination for migrant workers and illegal immigrants as they are in the community.

“We cannot ignore this fact. There is no real herd immunity if we don’t vaccinate everyone, including foreign workers and illegal immigrants.”

Emergency ordinances

Besides the vaccination programme, Amanah deputy president Salahuddin Ayub (Pulai-PH) said Parliament must review the emergency order and the ordinances that were passed since January, when emergency was first imposed.

“This emergency is unnecessary. Although the government said it was to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, the emergency has been used to stop Parliament from meeting, while pushing through emergency ordinances.

“However, I noticed that all the ordinances passed are not just for health reasons but to enable the government to spend more money. We must review these ordinances,” said the former agriculture minister.

Sivarasa, who is also a human rights lawyer, also questioned the need for PN to use the emergency laws to combat Covid-19 pandemic.

“So far all that has been done to fight Covid-19 was entirely doable under current existing laws like the National Security Council Act and the Infectious Diseases Act,” said Sivarasa.

Economy and education

While almost all the MPs responding to The Malaysian Insight agreed that the top priority should be the vaccination programme, they also agreed that the economy was the next most important issue for Parliament to discuss.

“I want to raise the issue of how the pandemic has affected livelihoods and the economy of the common person,” said Shahidan.

DAP’s Wong Shu Qi said that the Covid-19 lockdowns have caused a lot of people to lose jobs and take pay cuts.

She said the government must present a plan to address this.

“The national recovery plan, which was announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, only talked about the different phases of lockdowns.

“His plan did not explain how the government planned to help businesses recover, particularly the tourism sector that has now suffered for more than one-and-a-half years,” said Shu Qi.

Sivarasa also asked how the government planned to help the lower income groups affected by the lockdowns.

“How is the government going to overcome the economic devastation of the B40 by reason of the current lockdown: the daily waged, the small self-employed businesses, the unemployed?

“In short, all those from the B40 group who have actually lost their incomes and who do not have a safety net,” said Sivarasa.

Apart from that, Ma’mun said the government should reduce the size of its cabinet.

“During pandemic, the government should limit the number of inactive ministries. It is critical to restore public confidence in the government’s commitment to overhauling the administration,” said Ma’mun.

Not to be left out, said Karupaiya, is education.

“The online learning method is not working. A Form 5 student approached me recently and said that his teachers were simply repeating paragraphs from the textbooks in their online classes.

“There is little interactive learning. I suggest that schools be reopened partially with one day per week allocated to each form or standard.

“Pupils from the form or standard allocated to that particular day can be spread out across all the classrooms in the school for small class sizes and safe social distancing.

“It is only one day of physical teaching but I believe this will make a difference where it might give a great impact on pupils as well as our disabled education system,” said the Kedahan.

No-confidence motion

On the possibility of a vote of no-confidence against Muhyiddin, Salahuddin said it was part and parcel of parliamentary democracy.

“There’s nothing wrong with a vote of no-confidence. Other countries have done it and I’m not opposed to a change in government, considering what PN has done this past 18 months.

“There’s a lot of propaganda on how a change of government will affect the management of Covid-19 pandemic, but I don’t believe it will. Many other countries such as Sweden and Japan have seen changes in government leadership during the pandemic, and it has not made them worse.

“Malaysia on the other hand is getting worse Covid-19 numbers with the same government,” said Salahuddin.

Other MPs did not want to comment on the possibility of a no-confidence vote against the government.

“Although Umno has decided to only support the current government until the next elections, I just want to raise people’s issues,” said Shahidan. – June 24, 2021.