Zafrul met Dr M for ideas on combating Covid-19 pandemic

 

Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had visited Dr Mahathir Mohamad to seek his advice on combating the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was confirmed by the former prime minister, who is the Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) chairperson, in a virtual press conference today.

"He asked to meet me with the purpose of asking me about ways to fight this pandemic.

"I prioritise the people over politics, and I have told him what I know about how to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases even though he is from the government, and I am the government's opponent.

Mahathir said the meeting took place on Monday at 6pm at his residence. Mahathir lives in Sri Kembangan, Selangor.

"He came to my house, and we spoke for an hour," he said.

Zafrul was on July 9 appointed to lead the special cabinet committee to oversee the National Recovery Plan.

While the committee bore some similarities to the National Recovery Council which Mahathir had proposed, Mahathir rejected the committee set up under the Perikatan Nasional government.

Mahathir had proposed a council similar to the National Operations Council set up during the 1969 riots, which replaced the then government as the main authority.

Mahathir said the special cabinet committee is still under the PN government and will therefore be exposed to political influence.

"Zafrul was appointed by the government to a body similar to what we have proposed.

"Even though the name may appear similar, but they do not appear to have ideas on how to manage the Covid-19 problem.

"He came to see me, and I had a few ideas which I did not withhold. He wanted to know so I let him know. If he can do it, then do it.

"But we are worried that political elements will influence their efforts and the government will not succeed," he said.

Mahathir reiterated that he wants to see an independent council under the Yang di-Pertuan Agong that will be allowed to take tougher measures than what the current PN government wants.

He said the council should be comprising experts.

Asked if he was willing to lead such a council if he's given the opportunity, Mahathir said this was only if it was not under the government.

'No Pejuang-PN deal'

He added that he will relinquish his position as the Pejuang chairperson if given the opportunity.

On a separate matter, Mahathir maintained that there was no communication about Pejuang potentially backing the PN government.

"There was no meeting whatsoever. There was no communication at all," he said.

Mahathir added that he had also not been in contact with any other PN ministers except for Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

"I must admit, this morning I rang up Khairy because I wanted a supply of vaccine for Langkawi,” said Mahathir, who is the Langkawi MP.

"We want to see all the Langkawi people being vaccinated. There are 70,000 people in Langkawi, and we think we can do it in about one month if we can speed up the vaccination and we must have the vaccines," he said. - Mkini