100-Day Report: Kit Siang wants PM to explain how ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ saves country

26 Nov 2021

By Farah Salim

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang is hopeful that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is able to explain how ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ can save the country from becoming a failed state on his 100th day as the ninth prime minister of Malaysia.

He said Malaysia had been slipping from the international table of competitiveness and successful nations and wondered if ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ as coined by Ismail Sabri as his signature brand for his premiership would save the nation from going down.

The MP for Iskandar Puteri mentioned that while Malaysia has slowed down exponential increases of Covid-19 cases (daily peak of 24,599 on Aug 26) and deaths (daily peak of 463 deaths on Sept 14), it is still too slow since the country recorded 6,144 new cases and 48 deaths yesterday.

In contrast, on Aug 21, Indonesia had 16,744 new cases and 1,361 deaths; Philippines 16,234 new cases and 397 deaths; and India 31,043 new cases and 401 deaths. Yesterday, Indonesia recorded 372 daily new cases and 16 daily deaths; the Philippines recorded 975 daily new cases and 193 daily deaths, and India recorded 2,044 daily new cases.

“We have not only lost out to Indonesia which has fewer daily new Covid-19 cases for the entire period of Ismail Sabri’s 100 Days as ninth Prime Minister, Indonesia has six weeks of daily cases in three-digit figures since Oct 15 while we are still struggling in the 4,000-6,000 cases zone.

“We have also lost out to Indonesia for over seven weeks since Oct 5 in having more daily deaths than Indonesia. We have also lost out to the Philippines, which has entered into its second-day three-digit daily new cases, and most seriously, we are losing out to India in daily new cases,” he said in a statement today.

“Can Ismail Sabri on Sunday explain how his ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ will save Malaysia from becoming a failed state?” he added.

On another note, Kit Siang said he fully supports the proposal by Nazir Razak and a group of 54 other prominent individuals who have urged the King and the Conference of Rulers to endorse the establishment of a non-partisan platform, a “Better Malaysia Assembly”, to propose reforms and reset of national institutions and systems.

“As the letter to the Yang di Pertuan Agong and the Conference of Rulers have said, successive prime ministers have come into power promising substantial reforms, but these promises often give way to racial and religious overtones and little change is ultimately achieved.

“The assembly will deliberate on issues of nationhood and institutional reforms, including matters such as the electoral system, political funding, federal-state relations, role of institutions, affirmative action, and education.

“It would identify specific policies and legislative changes that are required, which is estimated would take 18 to 24 months of deliberation behind closed doors to reach a consensus.”