Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh has slammed the extension of the total lockdown without the announcement of any blanket financial aid to go with it as a blatant act of irresponsibility by the government.
The former deputy women, family and community development minister likened the government's move to that of a "prison warden" in keeping people indoors to stem Covid-19 infections.
"We have barely survived the two weeks of total lockdown when the government announced a further extension aimed at lowering Covid-19 positive cases that have shown no signs of a decline.
"We want a government that does not behave like a mere prison warden keeping people behind the grills of their homes, sentencing them indiscriminately when the rising Covid-19 cases were contributed by the government’s sheer incompetence and confusing, contradictory and nonsensical standard operating procedure (SOPs)," Yeoh said in a fiery statement today.
She pointed out that just providing food aid was not enough for the people to make it through the lockdown.
"When (Defence Minister) Ismail Sabri Yaakob stands behind the rostrum to announce the extension of this total lockdown, Malaysians expect to see Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, the finance minister, standing alongside him, announcing financial relief instantaneously to help Malaysians cope.
"But this did not happen. How many bags of rice can we continue to give? How many more food packs to distribute and for how many more weeks do we need to do this?" she asked.
Small businesses in grave danger
Yeoh said that a recent trip to a fruit shop proved heartbreaking.
"Just days ago I went to a mall to buy food and entered a fruit shop to buy some grapes. This was the first time I saw fruit being sold at heavily discounted prices because they were no longer fresh and I was the only person there.
"I thought of their stocks, their rental and the workers’ salaries. We are no longer talking about profit or breaking even. We are talking about survival," she added.
The DAP lawmaker said the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was a bystander that was not proactive and chose to employ the wait-and-see attitude.
"We are now talking about preventing more from losing jobs and businesses, not closing shops. The government slices and cuts aid targeting only the B40.
"There is hardly anything for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who are mainly in the M40. And when the M40 drowns, the T20 too will be breathless. SMEs are in their final lap of calling out for help," she said.
Too many abbreviations
Yeoh also took a dig at the government's penchant for coming up with new terminology and abbreviations, saying it sounded fancy but there was nothing behind the cool-sounding facade.
"The PN government learned this from former premier Najib Abdul Razak's administration - the habit of adding '1' to everything. 1Malaysia, Pr1ma, BR1M and PPA1M.
"Today, this government has picked up the same habit but abusing and overdosing it.
"One has to google every single announcement each time you read the news - in addition to PKP, PKPD, PKPB, PKPP, there are also BPR, PdPR, PICK, PPV, JKJAV, CITF, PIKAS, and SJR (even roadblocks have abbreviation now)," she said.
"This PN government has been giving us nothing but shortened labels for their shoddy work with an absolute lack of coordination within their cabinet and ministries," she added.
Yeoh expressed hope that when the Council of Rulers meets next they would be able to reduce people’s suffering by shortening the tenure of the PN government. - Mkini
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