Hamzah's 'herd immunity' condition for Parliament an insult to his peers - Kit Siang

 

Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin’s insistence on herd immunity as a condition for Parliament to reopen was an insult to his peers who are trying to set up a “hybrid Parliament” system, said veteran opposition MP Lim Kit Siang.

In a statement today, Lim said Hamzah’s “loony” and “bizarre” idea was akin to publicly humiliating the committee that is designing the “hybrid Parliament”, which includes de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan, Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun, and Dewan Negara president Rais Yatim.

Hamzah and Rais are both members of the same party - Bersatu. Rais revealed on Tuesday that he, Takiyuddin, and Azhar were part of a special committee to study how other countries operated their legislature through a mix of in-person and online participation.

“I had expected the bloated Muhyiddin cabinet to shoot down Hamzah’s bizarre idea on Wednesday and that would be the end of Hamzah’s bizarre idea.

“But when Hamzah repeated his bizarre idea yesterday, we have to take his proposition more seriously,” said Lim.

Lim said the first problem arising from Hamzah’s idea was that no one can determine when herd immunity can be achieved.

Moreover, there were expert opinions that herd immunity against Covid-19 may be impossible due to vaccine hesitancy, the emergence of new variants, and the delayed arrival of vaccines for children.

“Is Hamzah suggesting that if herd immunity against Covid-19 proves to be impossible, the Malaysian Parliament should remain suspended and should not meet at all?” asked Lim.

According to the Special Committee On Covid-19 Vaccine Supply, a total of 13,046,616 people, or 53.7 percent of the adult population, have registered for vaccination as of June 10. - Mkini