PRIME Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his cabinet should bear the responsibility for letting the Covid-19 pandemic get out of hand, said Lim Guan Eng.

“Not just Muhyiddin and his health minister, but the entire cabinet should be held responsible, especially for the delay in securing the vaccines,” said the DAP secretary-general in a statement today.

He said the failure to purchase vaccines early was unforgivable and could cause the loss of more lives.

“Petty excuses that Malaysia cannot afford a paltry sum like RM2.1 billion to purchase urgently needed vaccines is unacceptable.

“Malaysia can definitely afford not just RM2.1 billion, but RM5 billion would be available in an emergency crisis like this.

“At a time when Singapore had obtained delivery and begun mass vaccination, Malaysia still has to wait another two months,” said the former finance minister.

He said the government’s mishandling had led to Health Director General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s prediction that daily cases could reach 8,000 per day in March.

The Bagan MP said the concerns have also affected investor confidence to the point that the US embassy had advised its citizens to leave Malaysia.

“Is Muhyiddin keeping silent and not going to claim responsibility for his cabinet’s failure, when he had claimed credit previously for managing the Covid-19 crisis well?” he said.

Lim also slammed Umno for not walking their talk, saying that while the party had criticised the government, it has, however, continued to remain in government posts.

“If Umno is a party of principles, they would have already left the government. Or Muhyiddin would have sacked Umno from his government for insubordination.

“However, the fact that Umno remains in government underlines the fact that Muhyiddin has lost his parliamentary majority and needs Umno to sustain his tenuous grip on power.” – January 8, 2021.