KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 ― DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today admonished PAS spiritual adviser Datuk Hashim Jasin for claiming the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Foreign Ministry had been negligent in the Covid-19 quarantine violation by Plantations and Commodities Minister Datuk Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali.
He scoffed at Hashim’s comparison of Khairuddin to a quranic “hero”, saying the cleric should leave out medical frontliners who have been battling daily to save lives from the coronavirus pandemic from its brand of politics.
“He defended Khairuddin saying he's a hero. He said the one at fault is not Khairuddin for not self-isolating, but the mistake falls on the lap of MOH and the Foreign Ministry.
“I feel that if you want to make political statements, why bring in MOH? They are our heroes as they are our frontliners and all the doctors and nurses are battling Covid-19 everyday to protect us,” Lim told a news conference at the DAP headquarters here.
“We disagree with what Hashim is saying and if he wants to play politics, go ahead, that's his prerogative, but leave the MOH out.
“If they did not take action against Khairuddin, they were probably told not to,” the Bagan MP added.
Lim said Hashim should retract his remarks blaming the two ministries, calling them “morally, ethically wrong as well unprofessional” and showed double standards.
Lim was responding to Hashim’s remarks uttered in a Facebook broadcast during the Ipoh PAS annual general meeting last weekend.
In the video, Hashim said Khairuddin who went to Turkey in July should be treated like a “hero” for bringing news of foreign investments and saving Malaysia which is struggling economically in the grips of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hashim cited a story from the Quran featuring Prophet Sulaiman and a woodpecker, likening Khairuddin to the bird that was later proclaimed a “hero” to Islam despite disobeying orders.
According to Hashim, Khairuddin who broke the 14-day mandatory quarantine order for all returnees, was not in the wrong and the fault was in the negligence of the Health and the Foreign Ministries.
The cleric said PAS members were obliged to defend Khairuddin in the face of demands for the latter’s resignation for breaking government regulations.
