KUCHING, Oct 10 — Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan has warned that it will be impossible to control or to wipe Covid-19 in Sarawak if the state election is allowed now.
He said the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) must learn from what had happened in Sabah’s recent elections, where it was disastrous and the Covid-19 pandemic had been uncontrollable.
“We have also seen what had happened to India by holding elections in the midst of Covid-19, which was more aggressive after that.
“During India elections in April, India used to report daily cases as high as more than 379,000. This created a surge that overwhelmed the healthcare system in hard-hit cities like New Delhi, where hospitals have been turning patients away.
“Such a situation can happen in Sarawak if elections are held now,” he said when asked to comment on talk that GPS government may call for the state election in November or December instead of next year.
Voon said the emergency had been imposed to tackle pandemic but the GPS government’s strategies had failed to fight Covid-19 even when they are not busy with the elections.
He said when elections come, I doubt they will be focused to fight against Covid-19.
He reminded GPS that the lives of people are more important than elections because whoever takes the government will still have to focus on fixing Covid-19.
He described the current situation of the pandemic as bad, adding that he had received information from those who went or been admitted to the hospitals in Sarawak that the facilities are inadequate to cater for Covid-19 patients.
“Even this morning I received text messages from a party supporter who is admitted to a hospital in Miri that there were shortage of hospital beds and where oxygen masks are not functioning too.
“He said he had arguments with doctors and seeing people dying near him,” he said.
Voon said if it is true there was an acute shortage of equipment in helping Covid-19 patients in the hospital. He believed the GPS government will find it hard to be retained by the voters under current conditions.
“The handling of the economy at this time, the tar sealings of roads and cleaning the drains in towns and cities as seen at the moment will not see GPS be retained by the voters.
“The climate is simply not on their side,” he said. — Borneo Post
