KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 ― The federal government should appreciate the efforts of other Covid-19 frontliners such as cleaners and the police by also giving them a special allowance just like medical workers, PKR’s Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil said today.
Fahmi said the government could redirect the Budget 2021 allocation of around RM85.5 million for the controversial Special Affairs Department (Jasa) for this purpose.
He noted that the finance minister had in his Budget 2021 speech only announced a special one-off payment to Covid-19 frontliners from the Health Ministry. In the speech, the government said a one-off RM500 each will be given to 100,000 medical staff.
“What about those who are not from the Health Ministry? Including those who are cleaners, and the police. They don’t get that allowance.
“So here I emphasise, we should withdraw the funds to Jasa, give it to frontliners who are not from the Health Ministry, I suggest that be done,” he said while debating the Budget 2021 in the Dewan Rakyat.
Fahmi said Jasa’s allocation of RM85.5 million was significant, urging the Finance Ministry to either announce its reduction or retraction to redistribute it for use for other government expenses.
Disagreeing with the government’s reduction of RM124 million for the budget for next year’s emoluments or salaries of the police, Fahmi said the government should restore this amount to the police and increase their allowances while also resolving their housing issues.
Among other things, Fahmi also noted the lack of complete or detailed information on Covid-19 cases in the federal territory of Kuala Lumpur from the government to MPs in Kuala Lumpur which he said would enable them to contribute in the fight against Covid-19, as compared to other states that have full breakdown of details and statistics.
He noted as example the initial stages where the health district of Lembah Pantai became a Covid-19 red zone and was confused with the parliamentary constituency of Lembah Pantai, as well as the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in Kuala Lumpur that were actually centred in one construction site via the Damanlela cluster. Kuala Lumpur has 11 parliamentary constituencies, but the Covid-19 cases are mapped out according to the four health districts.
Lost year for 2020 generation
Apart from the public health crisis caused by Covid-19, Fahmi said there is an education crisis as children of school-going age this year have experienced a “lost year in education” with schools closed most of 2020, saying that this is not a “gap year”.
However, Fahmi said there appears to be a lack of imagination or political will and funds from the government to help students recover the lost time, asking if they would be told to repeat their school year next year. He also chided the education minister: “Give us your vision, there is no vision, has the education minister gone missing? There’s even two deputy ministers. Please do something.”
Umno MP defends Jasa
Later, Umno’s Arau MP Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim sought to justify the current Perikatan Nasional government’s plan to bring back Jasa, claiming that it could play the role of relaying news to the public.
“So we have to remember, what Lembah Pantai said, that we are disappointed because news about Covid-19 cannot be relayed well because we don’t have a specific agency to convey news, that’s why we created Jasa,” Shahidan said.
At this point, Fahmi interjected by highlighting the existence of the Health Ministry’s Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC). The CPRC provides daily updates on the Covid-19 situation nationwide, among other things.
Shahidan also proposed for former Jasa officers who had lost their jobs ― when the government unit was abolished under the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) government ― to be given priority to fill in positions in Jasa when it is revived next year.
Shahidan also attempted to link PH’s decision to abolish Jasa as being linked to creation of special officer posts for ministers then, insisting and claiming that Jasa “is a department not for the Barisan Nasional government, but any government that is ruling can use Jasa to convey news that are true.”
Jasa — best known as a propaganda unit from the era of the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration — was dissolved in May 2018 by the PH government that had pursued an austerity campaign to address the national debt inherited from the BN government.
Could Jasa’s funds be used for national news agency RTM?
Earlier today, Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim said he would reject Budget 2021 if items that he were opposing to were not changed, including the RM85.5 million allocation for Jasa which he said should be given to national broadcaster Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) to make it the best of its kind in the world or to channel such funds to the government’s Information Department.
Yesterday, Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo highlighted the delay in salaries to RTM staff due to purported lack of funds and the government’s act of allocating RM85.5 million to revive Jasa.
Today, Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh had also listed out 10 examples of what the RM85.5 million budget for Jasa could be used for instead, including two million personal protective equipment (PPE) for Covid-19 frontliners.
