Tiong was only speaking up for the people, says SAPP chief

 

Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing made a personal attack on health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah on Wednesday.

KOTA KINABALU: Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing raised some valid points in his now-infamous speech attacking the health director-general in the Dewan Rakyat recently, SAPP president Yong Teck Lee said today.

He said that Tiong’s remarks should be taken in a positive light instead of him being subject to vilification.

Speaking up did not mean the people were not supportive of, or did not appreciate, the sacrifices and hard work by health and security frontliners, Yong said. Tiong’s remarks showed that more people are openly expressing the increasing frustration felt by the rakyat.

“At times, the statements of the top brass do not tally with the harsh reality on the ground,” Yong said. “As frontliners are not allowed to speak up, they hope that politicians such as their elected representatives can speak up for them.”

Tiong has received a barrage of criticism ever since his speech on Wednesday, when he questioned whether health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah was afraid of dying from Covid-19 for avoiding activities on the ground in Sabah.

Yong said “at times, people are puzzled by the repeated assurances of the health director-general”. Noor Hisham had given assurances that medical facilities, personal protective equipment and manpower were sufficient, which was in contradiction to the views of those on the ground who instead said that medical services were overstretched.

Yong said another issue raised by Tiong concerned the ashes of a woman who was raped and murdered in Taiwan. He said Tiong was upset that the health ministry had initially insisted on placing her family in quarantine on their return from Taiwan, despite them having tested negative for Covid-19 there.

Yong said that those in authority must handle such situations carefully.

Failure to do so could result in another physical protest such as the one in Lahad Datu last week, he said, when hundreds of residents staged a demonstration at the police barrier against the continued lockdown in their area.

Yong said chaos was averted only when security authorities were forced to announce the lifting of the lockdown, which he alleged “was insisted by the medical authority against the views of the security and local administrators”. - FMT