Kit Siang claims no MCO consensus during meeting with state leaders

Veteran opposition MP Lim Kit Siang claimed that there was no consensus reached during a National Security Council meeting on April 28 with the chief executives of 13 states regarding the resumption of business.

In a statement today, the Iskandar Puteri MP claimed that Putrajaya should have called for a second meeting with the chief ministers and menteri besar of these states before imposing the conditional movement control order (MCO), which allowed most businesses to resume, on May 4.

"This is what (International Trade and Industry Minister) Azmin (Ali) should do now instead of issuing a dubious legal threat last night," said Lim, who is a DAP veteran leader.

At the time of writing, Malaysiakini is unable to independently verify Lim's stunning claims. Efforts to confirm this with state governments are currently underway.

It should also be noted that Chow Kon Yeow, the chief minister of Penang, is a senior member of DAP.

Lim was referring to Azmin's claim last night that the states which did not allow businesses to resume operations, in line with the federal government gazette issued by Health Ministry Dr Adham Baba on May 3, would risk being sued by business owners.

As of yesterday, six states - Sarawak, Sabah, Kelantan, Penang, Kedah and Pahang - have yet to reopen their economies.

Azmin also claimed that a consensus had arrived during the April 28 meeting after the chief executive of states were briefed that should the MCO be extended until June, the cumulative loss of national income would wipe out all the growth achieved over the past four years.

Lim said that the refusal to comply by some states was proof that there was no "whole-of-government" approach and an example of a "shambolic" exit plan with poor coordination.

He said Azmin should take pay heed to the chairperson of the Parliamentary select committee on federal/state Relations, Hassan Abdul Karim, who pointed out that federal and state governments are jointly given power on health matters under the ninth schedule of the Federal Constitution.

"It is urgent and imperative that the government adopt an 'all-of-government' and 'whole-of-society' approach with Parliament playing its oversight and scrutiny role to ensure the nation's success in the invisible war against Covid-19 pandemic.

"So far the government has acted as if it knows best when clearly it does not," he said.  - Mkini