KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 — DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has again criticised Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin for not convening Parliament, saying this prevented lawmakers from evaluating the country’s Covid-19 vaccination programme.
He said Muhyiddin’s failure to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to convene Parliament is both unreasonable and inexcusable, as the pandemic’s third wave is finally coming under control after eight months.
“The registration and vaccination against the Covid-19 pandemic must be speeded up so it can be ended as early as possible to allow normality and economic recovery to be launched by the last quarter of the year,” Lim said in a statement.
The Iskandar Puteri MP said convening Parliament would enable the MPs to decide if the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme should be accelerated and completed by Malaysia Day on September 16.
“During the last parliamentary meeting from November 5 to December 17 last year, the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases fluctuated between 589 cases on November 15, to 2,234 new cases on December 12 during the seven-week Parliament.
“In the last 28 days, the daily increase of Covid-19 cases has been brought down to the triple digit figure of 941 cases on March 29 to the highest of 1,671 cases on March 20, lower than the peak during the last parliamentary period although still to match the lowest daily increase of 589 new cases,” he said.
Lim said he hopes to see a steady reduction in the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases in the coming days, and that Malaysia should be able to reduce it to less than 589 new cases in this month itself.
“The Cabinet tomorrow should decide if the prime minister should advise the Agong to convene Parliament to deal more effectively with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“But the question is, will the Cabinet do so?” he said.
The 80-year old politician was one of several Opposition MPs who received the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine earlier today. Others include Port Dickson MP Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Pandan MP Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, and Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution.
The recent gazetting of a new law last month which temporarily allows the Finance Ministry to approve additional spending of the federal government’s funds beyond the initial Budget has drawn sharp criticisms from many quarters.
This is due to the fact that the law enables Putrajaya to bypass Parliamentary approval during the ongoing Emergency nationwide.
