Parliament must not delay committee to deal with COVID-19, corruption, integrity - Kit Siang

KUALA LUMPUR: Iskandar Puteri Member of Parliament Lim Kit Siang said that the Parliament’s greatest failure will be its inability to set up two Select Committees – one on the COVID-19 Pandemic and the other on Corruption and Integrity given the urgent need at this time.

However, the DAP veteran said it is not too late to do so as the Dewan Rakyat has a last week left before its adjournment on Dec 17.

"I regard the greatest failure of the November/December meeting of Parliament is its failure to set up two Select Committees – one on the Covid-19 pandemic and the other on Corruption and Integrity.

"In fact, Parliament would be gravely negligent and irresponsible in not setting these two Select Committees, reflecting the Muhyiddin Cabinet at its kakistocratic worst," he said in a statement.

Kit Siang added that Malaysia was now fast closing the gap with China in terms of the cumulative COVID-19 cases and was likely to overtake the country in the next few days.

"Malaysia is ranked No. 80 among countries with the most cumulative total of COVID-19 cases, while China is ranked No. 78 with 86,673 cases.

"Malaysia will overtake China in nine days if the average daily increase of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia average around 2000-figure while Malaysia overtake China in 18 days if Malaysia’s average daily increases of COVID-19 cases is in the 1,000 region.

"Whether nine days or 18 days, Malaysia overtaking China in cumulative total of COVID-19 cases before the year is over must be regarded seriously and should be the subject of investigation by the Select Committee on COVID-19 pandemic as to what had gone wrong with Malaysia’s strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic."

He added that China has more than 40 times the population of Malaysia, which is 1.4 billion Chinese compared to 32 million Malaysians.

"The Select Committee on COVID-19 pandemic should inquire as to why Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasssin's government failed to adopt “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” approach until Malaysia could overtake China in the COVID-19 pandemic.

"There is growing controversy in Malaysia and the world about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines which are expected to be made public shortly. The Select Committee should conduct a public hearing on this issue to help allay public concerns on the matter," he added.

On the need to set up Select Committee on Corruption and Integrity, Kit Siang said, based on the report of the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (TI CPI) 2019, Malaysia is ranked 51st with 53 points.

In the TI CPI 2019, Malaysia is ranked No. 51 with a score of 53, registering a single-year improvement of six points for the TI CPI score and 10 placings in TI CPI ranking, which is the best performance for Malaysia in the past quarter of a century.

(Based on the TI CPI, 0 is perceived to be highly corrupted, 100 perceived to be very clean)

“I do not expect Malaysia to make such leap of progress in the TI CPI 2020, but will Malaysia be going forwards or regressing backwards?

'Why is Parliament so shy in making the fight against corruption and public integrity a top national priority by setting up a Select Committee on Corruption and Integrity?", he asked

He said one of the objectives of the National Integrity Plan ‪2004-2008‬ was for Malaysia to become one of the world’s top 30 countries in public integrity.

"Has the Muhyiddin government given up on the challenge to make Malaysia among the world’s top 30 countries in the world on anti-corruption and public integrity?

"It is not too late for Parliament to set these two Select Committees, as it is still possible to set up these two Select Committees in the coming week if the government has the political will to do so," he added.