Media Statement by MP for Iskandar Puteri, Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on 3 June 2021:
#KerajaanGagal84 – Malaysia and UK set new records respectively in Covid-19 pandemic – record high of 126 daily death in Malaysia while zero daily death in UK
Both Malaysia and the United Kingdom have set new records in the Covid-19 pandemic – a record high of 126 daily Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia yesterday while zero daily death in the United Kingdom on Tuesday, 1st of June – the first day of MCO 3.0 “total lockdown”.
For two-and-a-half months, the United Kingdom has kept to double-digit daily death rates – down from its daily death peak of 1,823 deaths on January 20, 2021. UK’s zero daily death on Tuesday because of Covid-19 in UK was its first time in 10 months.
But in Malaysia, we burst through the six-week streak of double-digit daily death figures to three-digit daily death figure yesterday.
Since emergency was declared on January 11, 2021, the monthly statistics for Covid-19 fatalities under the emergency were:
January (from 11 January) | 209 |
February | 370 |
March | 142 |
April | 234 |
May | 1290 |
June (1st & 2nd) | 197 |
Total | 2442 |
As the total Covid-19 deaths in Malaysia till June 2, 2021 amounted to 2,993 fatalities, this means that during the nearly five months of emergency, the number of Covid-19 fatalities is nearly four-and-a-half times the fatalities of the previous 12 months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
What can be more potent than this to demonstrate the colossal failure of the emergency to combat Covid-19 pandemic?
But there is the further reason that during the nearly five months of emergency, the number of Covid-19 cases have increased by over four times the previous 12 months of the Covid-19 pandemic – as the 138,224 cumulative total of Covid-19 cases on January 11 have increased to 587,165 cases on June 2, 2021.
It is obvious that the declaration of emergency, together with the suspension of Parliament, had crippled efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic by the government’s double failures – firstly to restore public trust and confidence because of SOP flip-flops and double standards in the government handling of the war against the Covid-19 pandemic and secondly, to spearhead a national mobilisation of Malaysians through a genuine “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.
What type of an emergency is this?
It must be the only emergency in the world which has not improved a dire national situation but aggravated and worsened it – whether in terms of cumulative total Covid-19 cases or fatalities!
In fact, experts are warning of worse to come in the Covid-19 pandemic despite MCO 3.0 and a “total lockdown”.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Science Council member Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzan warned yesterday that a recent study warned that the Covid-19 death toll in the country may reach 26,000 by September with the estimated number of fatalities at least nine times the current cumulative death toll, which stood at 2,993 yesterday.
She said the study, conducted by the Institute for Health Metric and Evaluation (IHME) of the University of Washington in the United States, also estimated that the daily death rate could go as high as 200 cases towards the end of August.
Adeeba, who is also the chairperson of the Malaysian Aids Foundation, stressed that the fight against Covid-19 was one that all Malaysians should be involved in and urged all Malaysians to really reflect, re-strategise and reset.
She said the leadership must also be responsible to restore the public’s trust because, in terms of health, trust is the currency of public health.
The question is whether the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, will place national interest above self-interest and is prepared to restore public trust and confidence by immediately convening Parliament to ensure the proper functioning of the important constitutional safeguard of parliamentary scrutiny and “check-and-balance” to ensure Executive competence, efficiency and good governance?