Let’s not hit million mark on Merdeka Day, says Kit Siang

 

Lim Kit Siang said the number of Malaysians reaching out for help in the ‘white flag’ campaign shows the need to extend more help. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang has made an impassioned plea to Malaysians and the government to do all they can to ensure the number of Covid-19 cases does not exceed the one million mark on the 64th Merdeka Day on Aug 31.

He said based on the current rate, it will exceed the one million mark with the total number of deaths reaching 10,000 but said it is now left in the hands of all Malaysians and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government to stem the tide.

“At the current rate of Covid-19 infection and fatality in the first three days of July, we are likely to reach this number on Merdeka day.

“It will exceed 1.2 million cases and 11,000 deaths by the 58th Malaysia Day on Sept 16.

“In these circumstances, there will be nothing for us to celebrate.

“If the present rate of Covid-19 infection in Malaysia is not checked, we will join the ‘million cases club’ despite being a small nation,” he said in a statement.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said the PN government had not risen to the occasion but instead had tried to stall the convening of Parliament for MPs to debate the Covid-19 problem.

Referring to the latest indicators, Lim said the country was unable to exit Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan at the end of June as projected, with the number projected to remain around 6,000 cases in the first half of this month.

“Malaysia should have made the transition from Phase One to Phase Two of the recovery plan by reaching the threshold of fewer than 4,000 cases at the end of June,” he said.

Another damning report, said Lim, was Malaysia falling 35 places from 16 in January to 51 in the Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking out of 53 economies of more than US$200 billion (RM800 billion).

He said there is something very wrong with Malaysia’s war against the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that this is why Parliament must be convened immediately “as soon as possible” to discuss what to do next.

He said the number of Malaysians reaching out for help in the “white flag” campaign also shows the need for urgent help to be given to the people. - FMT