Five Harapan states excluded from PM's Covid-19 meeting

CORONAVIRUS | The special meeting chaired by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to coordinate enforcement of the Restricted Movement Order in all states beginning tomorrow had excluded five states not under Perikatan Nasional rule.

The five states are Selangor, which so far recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases, Penang, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan and Warisan-led Sabah.

When contacted, Penang Chief Minister Kon Yeow confirmed that he did not receive an invitation to attend the meeting held in Putrajaya today.

"Not invited. I heard this morning that there was such a meeting.

"Later I found out that Harapan menteri besars and chief ministers were not invited," Chow told Malaysiakini in a text message.

Others who were not invited had taken to Twitter in response to Muhyiddin's Facebook post on the coordination meeting that was said to be attended by menteri besars and chief ministers.

Several photographs from the meeting posted on his Facebook showed the presence of cabinet members including International Trade and Industries Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali, Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob; Chief Secretary to the Government Zuki Ali; Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg; as well as various deputy ministers.

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari expressed regret over the exclusion, pointing out that the state ranked highest in the number of recorded cases so far.

"The state government regrets that it was not involved in such an important meeting as lives are at stake.

"This clearly goes against the state's openness in engaging with all parties including the federal government," Amirudin (above) tweeted.

Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir, in a tweeted response to Amirudin, said: "Kedah was also not invited. Maybe there is no Covid-19 cases in Kedah."

Meanwhile, PKR communications chief Fahmi Fadzil confirmed that Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Aminudin Harun and Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal were both similarly not invited to attend the meeting.

"I can confirm they were not invited," he told Malaysiakini.

Meanwhile, the Pakatan Harapan secretariat in a statement condemned Putrajaya's move to exclude the five states from today's meeting.

"If it (the exclusion) was only because they are leading states that are not politically aligned with the federal government, this narrow partisan act has greatly jeopardised the rakyat.

"It is public knowledge that these five states comprise nearly 40 per cent of Malaysia's overall population, and a large number of Covid-19 cases have occurred in these states," said Harapan.

The coalition also pointed out that any move to contain the Covid-19 outbreak without full coordination of all states will be doomed to fail.

"Therefore the Pakatan Harapan secretariat urges Putrajaya to urgently convene a meeting with the (five) menteri besars and chief ministers, for the safety of all citizens in the states," they said.

Malaysia today recorded its third consecutive day of three-digit increase in Covid 19 cases, bringing the total tally to 673 cases, according to Health Minister Adham Baba.

There were two Covid-19 related deaths recorded today. - Mkini