Malaysian Medical Association president Dr Koh Kar Chai has lambasted 'selfish' politicians who stirred the political pot and brought Malacca to the brink of a state election at a time when the nation is still battling the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Will the selfish politicians ever learn? Selfish and irresponsible is how one can describe politicians in the Malacca state assembly who decided to put 'self' above the nation and stir the political pot at this time, when the nation is seemingly on the road to recovery from the pandemic.
"Many say that we are in this current sad state of affairs because of the Sabah state election, which sparked off a chain of rapid transmission of Covid-19 in Malaysia.
"What happened to the truce that was called by politicians from opposing sides and their pledge to work together for the sake of the people?" Koh (above) asked in a strongly-worded statement issued today.
"As far as the medical fraternity is concerned, we are dead against state elections being held during this time, not at least till the current situation returns to near normal.
"Granted that a high percentage of our population has been vaccinated against the dreaded Covid-19, but the numbers being infected are still high," he added.
Koh pointed out that the current daily active cases number more than 100,000, with the daily death rate being above 100.
"Aren’t these sobering numbers to the politicians who are clamouring for an election to be held? Having a state election now would be like ‘going out from the frying pan and into the fire!’” he said.
On Oct 4, former Malacca chief minister Idris Haron, along with Pantai Kundur assemblyperson Nor Azman Hassan, Telok Mas assemblyperson Noor Effandi Ahmad and Pengkalan Batu assemblyperson Norhizam Hassan Baktee withdrew support for the current Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali.
Led by Idris, they joined forces with 11 opposition Pakatan Harapan assemblypersons to announce that Sulaiman has lost his majority in the 28-seat legislative assembly.
This manoeuvre led Sulaiman to seek the dissolution of the State Legislative Assembly.
This came into effect on Oct 5 and paved the way for a snap state election.
Urging that the elections be put off, Koh reminded the politicians that for a long time, deaths from Covid-19 cases were in the hundreds on a daily basis.
"Many children were orphaned by the dreaded disease. There are many victims left behind, suffering from long Covid, with some tethered to oxygen concentrators. Do we want to add on to the numbers?
"Have we forgotten the fallen heroes from among the medical and non-medical frontliners?
"The medical frontliners have been battling the pandemic for close to two years now, with many having their leave frozen, and an equally large number who either opt to stay out of their homes or dread going home after each shift for fear of bringing the virus back to their loved ones," Koh added. - Mkini
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