KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has called for a 10-day Parliamentary meeting to properly discuss the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the movement control order (MCO), instead of the one-day sitting proposed by de facto law minister Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan.
In a statement today, the Opposition lawmaker pointed out that Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has already denied claims that he and his team advised Takiyuddin for the single-day meeting.
“The Health Ministry’s advice on the situation of the Covid-19 outbreak had been gravely misunderstood resulting in the decision on the one-day Parliament sitting. The Cabinet at its weekly meeting tomorrow should salvage Malaysia’s reputation and that of the Malaysian Parliament to ensure that it is not the only Parliament in the world which is unable to play its role in the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Instead of a one-day Parliament on May 18, it should meet for at least 10 days to provide parliamentary oversight and scrutiny of all government measures in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The global face of Covid-19 pandemic has undergone great changes since the first case was announced in China last December,” said Lim.
Earlier when he made the announcement, Takiyuddin had alluded that any official decision regarding Parliament was made based on the advice of the Ministry of Health and “other relevant experts”.
Yesterday, Dr Noor Hisham had dismissed the PAS minister’s claims, saying it is only advising the government on matters pertaining to Covid-19 and nothing else, adding that the ministry does not have jurisdiction to advise Putrajaya on other matters.
With Dr Noor Hisham’s statement, the Iskandar Puteri MP who first voiced his skepticism over Takiyuddin’s statement pointed that advocating a one-day Parliament sitting makes a “complete mockery” of Malaysia’s Parliamentary democracy.
“It is clear that the minister for parliamentary affairs, Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan had either misunderstood or distorted the advice of the Health Ministry on the situation of the Covid-19 outbreak,” Lim said.
He added that there is no way Dr Noor Hisham and the specialist would have misled Takiyuddin.
Lim also gave his political rival the benefit of the doubt, saying that he believes that the minister had probably misunderstood the advice of the Health Ministry.
