Political news is grim, but the Covid-19 news grimmer

 

MP SPEAKS | Following the Umno Supreme Council decision on Wednesday night to immediately retract support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the Muhyiddin government tottered yesterday, but did not fall.

Attorney-General Idrus Harun said that it was not clear that Muhyiddin had lost the confidence of a majority of MPs and that this must be determined by the MPs and not through statements.

A top Umno leader said Umno’s withdrawal of support was targeted at Muhyiddin and not at the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, although the Umno president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, in his midnight media conference had listed seven major failings of the “Muhyiddin government” as the basis for the Umno Supreme Council decision.

It is therefore quite surprising that an Umno vice-president could say that Sabri Ismail Yaakob, who was appointed as the deputy prime minister by Muhyiddin earlier on Wednesday, could be the acting prime minister if Muhyiddin resigns as prime minister, considering Ismail’s prominent role in the failed war against the Covid-19 pandemic – apart from the shocking disregard of the constitutional fact that the whole cabinet ceases to exist when the prime minister resigns.

The net result is paralysis of a kakistocratic government while the whole country is fighting a losing battle against the Covid-19 pandemic – six months after the declaration of emergency to combat Covid-19 pandemic, some six weeks after the “total lockdowns” and a month after the National Recovery Plan (NRP).

This was brought home yesterday by the worst news on the Covid-19 front – a record daily fatality of 135 Covid-19 deaths and the second-highest daily record of 8,868 new Covid-19 cases in the past 18 months!

Malaysia now ranks No 34 among nations in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, having overtaken Hungary, Today, we are slated to overtake Japan to be ranked No 33, when less than eight months ago, on Nov 18, 2020, we were ranked No 85 among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.

We are overtaking Japan a week earlier than I had expected in terms of the cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.

As a worst-performing nation in the Covid-19 pandemic, Malaysia has overtaken both China and the United States – China, where the Covid-19 pandemic started and shot to 80,025 Covid-19 cases and 2,912 Covid-19 deaths by March 1, 2020. China was overtaken by the United States in March 2020 and the US has now a cumulative total of over 34.6 million Covid-19 cases and over 620,000 deaths.

We've beaten China in Covid cases and deaths

Now, Malaysia with 808,658 cases and 5,903 deaths has beaten China in the cumulative total of Covid-19 cases and deaths. China, ranked No 101, has 91,966 Covid-19 cases and 4,636 deaths.

For the past six months in the United States, the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases has fallen by 70 percent and in the past five weeks, falling by 95 percent from its peak of 304,978 cases in January 2021.

Covid-19 deaths in the United States fell from its peak of 4,452 deaths in January to triple-digit figures in the last three months and in the past seven days, it recorded a rolling seven-day daily average of 142 deaths or a 97 percent reduction from its peak in January.

In contrast, Malaysia is currently facing peak cases, peak hospitalisation and peak deaths.

Malaysia needs a new “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach if we are to win in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, which poses an existential threat not only to the lives of Malaysians, but also to the Malaysian economy and nation.

The Malaysian ship is leaking, and all Malaysians should be on deck to fix the leak to ensure that the ship will not sink.

This is the magnitude of the Malaysian problem we face today. - Mkini

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LIM KIT SIANG is a DAP veteran and the party's MP for Iskandar Puteri.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.