PARLIAMENT | Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing's remarks against Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah - on whether the DG is "afraid to die" for not personally monitoring the Covid-19 situation in Sabah in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday - have extended beyond questioning.
According to the Hansard from yesterday's sitting, Tiong had blamed the third wave of new infections on "human errors" by the Health Ministry.
"I am of the view that this time, it is not because the people refused to cooperate, but I think there is a weakness in the Health Ministry, human errors.
"Every day we announce in the news saying (there are) clusters here and there, how many clusters there are. Why don't we lock down all of the clusters?" Tiong is reported as saying.
He claimed that the weaknesses and human errors had then led to the current situation, where a majority of states are placed under a month-long conditional movement control order.
"This DG every day just makes the news, for what?... Why is he not on the ground?
"Like in KK, Sabah, the Covid-19 pandemic is so bad, why didn't he go to visit all the hospitals? Go see the temporary hospital, discuss and give support to the frontliners," Tiong said.
"Don't just send doctors to go there, nurses to go there. Oh, they are not afraid to die, but the DG is afraid to die. The deputy DG also did not go.
"What is happening? There is no need to court publicity every day," he said, alluding to Noor Hisham's daily Covid-19 update press conference.
At this point, the Hansard recorded that Chan Lih Kang (PKR-Tanjong Malim) had attempted to intervene but was ignored by Tiong who said, "I heard he (Noor Hisham) now wants his own project, to be the World Health Organization's secretary-general."
RSN Rayer (DAP-Jelutong, above) then stood up to intervene but Tiong continued his remarks against Noor Hisham, "That is unqualified, for me."
What followed after the exchange was a heated outcry involving both government and opposition MPs, with the latter largely calling for Tiong to apologise and demanding Deputy Speaker Azalina Othman Said to make a ruling on the matter.
Azalina eventually ejected Rayer, who refused to sit down despite her repeated orders. She also ruled that Tiong could either apologise or explain his remarks.
Tiong had insisted, both in and outside of the Dewan Rakyat, that he was only voicing out sentiments from the frontliners and that he would not apologise.
In his attempt at clarifying his stand, Tiong took a further swipe at confusing standard operating procedures which led to people being slapped with the RM1,000 fine.
Noor Hisham, in his response to Tiong yesterday, countered that he had visited Sabah in late August to oversee the Health Ministry’s preparations ahead of the Sabah state election in September.
“As a Muslim, I have accepted that death can happen anywhere. What is important for us is our intention, which is to carry out our duties and break the chain of infection," he added. - Mkini
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