Malaysia needs a temporary govt that is transparent: Johari

 

The country needs a temporary government that is transparent and trustworthy in handling the Covid-19 pandemic and political crisis, said former finance minister II Johari Abdul Ghani.

In an interview with a Malay daily, the Umno leader proposed that the temporary administration be given a time frame for it to bring Malaysia out of the crisis, and it should be led by someone with experience and strong leadership traits.

This can be achieved by uniting all political parties, he added.

"This temporary government should be given a certain timeline enough for it to focus on handling the Covid-19 pandemic, including to manage the national immunisation programme transparently," he told Utusan Malaysia.

"The individual to lead this temporary government should also be someone who has no political baggage or self-interest, and has no intention to actively participate in the next general election," said the former Titiwangsa MP.

However, Johari did not suggest any names.

The Umno supreme council member stressed that the vaccination programme must be done swiftly and no one should make a profit from it.

He also proposed that Putrajaya invest more on hospital equipment and seek other measures that can be used as Covid-19 treatment, instead of relying heavily on its immunisation plan.

"In the UK, even after their vaccination exercise reached 50 percent, the Delta variant recently caused the number of cases to spike again and resulted in its government postponing its decision to lift travel bans.

"The Health Ministry has to be open to alternatives such as those being practised by other countries or have been approved by international bodies such as the World Health Organisation," he said.

Johari also suggested that the Election Commission plan ahead on how it can hold an election while the country is still in a pandemic, in case the outbreak stays longer than expected. - Mkini