Phoong
KOTA KINABALU: Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (DAPSY) urges the federal government and Sabah state government to announce all related SOPs and stimulus packages at once.
The government should not repeat its mistakes of causing public uncertainty again and again, said Sabah DAP Socialist Youth Chief Phoong Jin Zhe in a statement on Saturday.
“Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced a total lockdown to be implemented on June 1 to June 14 and only essential economic and services sectors would be allowed to operate.
“I agree the implementation of a total lockdown but to ensure that this upcoming lockdown is successful, the government must strengthen the enforcement to guarantee the public are complying with the SOPs, crowds are not created and no mass gatherings are held,” stressed Phoong.
The Luyang assemblyman also stressed that the government must get to the root of the pandemic.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, majority of the clusters are from factories and construction sites, said Phoong, adding that if the government decides to ignore this fact, we will never curb this pandemic.
Only prohibiting dine-in and mass social gatherings would not end this pandemic, he argued.
Phoong added that Health Minister Dr Adham Baba stated that the government would be conducting mass swab test like is being done in Selangor and he agrees that this is necessary.
“I urge the Sabah State Government to emulate this and conduct swab tests proactively, especially in rural areas and target illegal immigrants. The state government must also prepare sufficient quarantine destinations to overcome this pandemic,” he said.
Phoong added that the national vaccination program in Sabah must be expedited and opined that we are far away from the goal of herd immunity of 80 per cent of our population as only eight per cent of the population in Sabah are fully vaccinated.
According to statistics up to May 27, he said, the national registration rate is at 47.7 per cent but Sabah has only recorded 17.7 per cent.
He also lamented the fact that the federal government still excluded Sabah from the AZ vaccination program despite the low rates, claiming that this is unacceptable and inappropriate.
The state government must look into purchasing vaccines and increasing more vaccination centres, he opined.
He further urged the government to step in and extend the loan moratorium for all affected stakeholders as according to statistics from the Central Bank of Malaysia (BNM) in 2020, approximately 75 per cent of Malaysians have less than RM 1,000 savings.
The pandemic and total lockdown would push them to the edge of the cliff, he claimed, adding that the government must also distribute cash aids like they did previously to B40 and M40 income groups.
“After the total lockdown is implemented, majority of the public would stay at home. I recommend to the government to vaccinate essential workers first such as food delivery riders, hawkers and etc. This is because they visit many places and people throughout the day and providing them the vaccine first would effectively reduce the spread of the virus,” he said.
The government, according to him, must also roll out stimulus packages like the first lockdown such as discount on utility bills, exempt city hall parking fees, hawker license fees and implement policies that encourage enterprises to lessen their rental fees.
“Underprivileged families and senior citizens who are staying alone would be affected the most during the lockdown. I call upon the state government to put aside political differences and approve special allocations for all elected representatives. This is to allow all MPs and State Assemblymen/women to distribute food aids in their respective constituencies and also to promote the vaccination program,” he said.
The government, said Phoong, must also revive the wage subsidy program for affected companies. This would also prevent another spike in unemployment rate.
“The government must also acknowledge the fact that majority youths are now in the gig economy such as selling products online and live-streaming. The government must provide them with certain amount of subsidies.
“I truly believe that if the Prime Minister is incompetent in containing this virus, he should resign from his position. This is the spirit of democracy and just like how Tajuddin was sacked for his incompetence and unprofessionalism. The Prime Minister and cabinet should act the same and resign if they cannot curb this pandemic.
“I would also like to humbly make a request to the King to reopen Parliament and State Assemblies. Other than that, I hope that the King would appoint a ‘Pandemic Cabinet’ just similar to the ‘War Cabinet to combat this pandemic. This is to assemble competent and professional MPs to form a new government to curb this pandemic,” he said.