Reflections on the government, MCO and Covid-19

MP SPEAKS | Some friends think I might just as well concentrate on my constituency work and leave the messy and dirty national politics out.

They are wrong. The well-being of the rakyat and the future of this country rest with the people who control the federal government. Are we having the right people in the government?

At the local level, the fact is without the support of the federal government, the MP faces tremendous problems serving his constituents.

A case in point is the lack of funda for opposition MPs to render financial assistance to their constituents at a time the country is fighting Covid-19.

Why are my constituents denied financial assistance from their MP when the nation is under the movement control order (MCO) to fight Covid-19?

MPs from the ruling party get an allocation of RM1.5 million every year to carry out small projects and social activities in their constituencies. The funds are also used to help the poor especially in times of floods, fires and emergencies.

Now that the nation is facing a crisis all representatives should be able to make use of the government allocation to assist those in hardship. But the allocation for all Pakatan Harapan MPs has been frozen since the usurpation of the Harapan government by traitors.

I know many workers, especially daily wage earners, contract workers and hawkers who are facing financial hardship when they are unable to work because of the movement control order (MCO). Yet they are denied financial aid from their MP just because they are in a constituency won by Harapan.

I have been receiving quite a few requests for a small amount of financial aid from my constituents who are caught unprepared for the MCO. They are ordinary workers who live from hand to mouth and have little saving.

I think most working families would have some food stocked in the house enough for the two weeks when the nation is under the MCO. But what is going to happen if the MCO is extended beyond two weeks?

What if the pandemic of Covid-19 continues and the MCO is extended for more than a month?

98.5 percent of businesses and industries in Malaysia are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cutting across all sectors and, sizes and they are the biggest employers in the country. Most of these SMEs have very tight cash flow, and many of them will be forced to close down when there are no orders, no production and no income for more than a month. Should that happen, there will be a massive layoff of workers.

Is the government prepared for it? We have not heard of any pre-emptive plan from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry on how to save the SMEs from being wiped out in the tsunami of Covid-19. Neither have we heard of any pre-emptive plan from the Ministry of Human Resource on how to handle the hundreds of thousands of retrenched workers should a large number of factories close down in the next 2 -3 months. How are we going to feed these workers and their families?

International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali (photo) today happily announced the “good news” that the EPF contributors can now withdraw RM500 from the second account to keep them survive during this period of hardship.

Did he realise that out of the total 15 million working population in the country, only 2.4 million workers have EPF? What about the rest of the workers and the self-employed?

Now you should know how dangerous it is to have an incompetent minister heading an important ministry when the country is in a crisis. And you should now know a schemer who is good at negotiating for the crossover of MPs in a conspiracy to bring down a legitimately elected government does not have the capacity to save the nation.

Could we have avoided the second wave of Covid-19?

As I am writing this message to you, the confirmed cases of Covid-19 has increased to 1518 with a death toll of 14.

The first case of Covid-19 was reported on Jan 25. The Harapan government was on the alert and various ministries were mobilised to combat the pandemic. Then health minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and his deputy Dr Lee Boon Chye were monitoring the daily development, and special units were set up at hospitals to cater for Covid-19 patients.

Health screening was conducted at all entry points and a Joint Committee on Border Control Measures was set up with the Singapore governmentt on Feb 11. On Feb 13, then transport minister Anthony Loke gave the order to step up surveillance at all ports. Then National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) chairperson Wan Azizah Wan Ismail worked over the Chinese New Year holiday to monitor the situation. The pandemic was under control then and there were no new cases from Feb 19 to Feb 27.

But the pandemic was far from over as warned by WHO on Feb 14, and Malaysia should prepare for the possibility of a wider transmission of Covid-19 in a second wave, as the pandemic was spreading fast in neighbouring countries such as South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.

But sadly, as the Harapan government was fighting Covid-19, some ministers chose at this time to usurp the government. They must have been planning, scheming and negotiating for months, and to them, the national crisis was a perfect time for them to strike.

Following the notorious event at Sheraton Hotel and the usurping of the Harapan government, Bersatu, Umno and Pas leaders spent 10 vital days fighting for cabinet posts.

In the absence of serious and effective government control, Covid-19 cases jumped from March 1 to the current 1,518 cases. Despite the worsening situation, there are still ministers who don’t seem to care. It was reported that the Home Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainuddin, who is from Umno, is still busy trying to get the PKR MPs to cross over.

I pray for the safety and strength of this nation and its people. I pray for the return of good senses and the moral obligation of our leaders. And I pray for the return of a good government.

TAN YEE KEW is PKR's MP for Wanga Maju.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.