Parliament shutdown? Nonsense, says Tony Pua

 

The Damansara MP says it’s nonsense to suggest that Monday’s sitting will be called off over 11 Covid-19 positive cases out of 1,183 tests.

PETALING JAYA: DAP’s Tony Pua has scoffed at talk that the Dewan Rakyat sitting on Monday may be called off after MPs and aides tested positive for Covid-19.

The Damansara MP said only 11 of the 1,183 samples taken in Parliament had tested positive for the virus.

He said this was less than 1% of the total tests.

“You must be joking. If that’s the benchmark to shut down Parliament, then basically there’ll never be another sitting ever again.

“What absolute nonsense,” he said in a Facebook post tonight.

Pua went on to say that the entire point of regular screening in Parliament was to sieve out the positive cases to prevent the spread of the virus.

This way, elected representatives could carry out their duties normally, and not shut Parliament down because of the cases that come up to less than 1%.

“Or is it just an excuse to run a dictatorship?” he asked.

Earlier today, a source told Malaysiakini that the special sitting could be cut short due to Covid-19 cases among MPs.

Another source told the portal that the Cabinet would wait to decide on the matter after receiving a report from the health ministry.

This morning, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said 11 Covid-19 positive cases were detected in Parliament yesterday. - FMT