Civil group urges govt to accept 5 demands of hunger strike protester

 

The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) has urged the government to accept all five demands listed by activist Nathaniel Tan who started a personal hunger strike last week.

In a statement today, KLSCAH said it stands in solidarity with Tan and called on the government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to revise the Covid-19 National Recovery Plan (NRP).

“We hereby urge both the Perikatan Nasional government and Prime Minister Muhyiddin to listen to the rakyat.

“Respond to Tan’s demands promptly, and revise the Covid-19 recovery plan that has been repeatedly amended and criticised upon - immediately,” KLSCAH said.

Last week, activist Tan started a personal hunger strike at Taman Tun Dr. Ismail (TTDI), Kuala Lumpur.

Tan said he did it after he felt furious over the government’s handling of the pandemic and its treatment of the frontliners, and posted his five demands to the government on Facebook.

The civil group said it agrees with the demands listed by Tan, especially on three of them which the group found to be most urgent and crucial:

1. Handing over the Covid-19 recovery plans’ decision making to relevant experts as well as to reconvene Parliament immediately,

2. Purchase RM500 million worth of medical equipment to hospitals to treat Covid-19 patients while allowing doctors to choose the necessary equipment without going through heavy bureaucratic procedures, and

3. Allow all frontliners to disclose and reveal their work efforts in combating Covid-19 in a fair and transparent manner, without being subjected to punishment for whistleblowing.

Calling the government’s effort to contain the pandemic a failure due to skyrocketing daily cases despite two months of lockdown, KLSCAH urged the government to strengthen its cooperation with NGOs and revise the current recovery plan.

“Without the proper solutions, the shocking rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in our country will continue to have a negative domino effect on our rakyat,” the group added.

Yesterday, the country recorded the highest Covid-19 death toll in a single day, at 360 deaths; while 18,688 new Covid-19 cases were recorded. - Mkini