The total lockdown came at a time when it was too late for thousands of families who had lost their loved ones to Covid-19, said former prime minister Najib Razak while branding the delayed move as a big failure.

“It is a big failure on the government’s part for not imposing a stringent lockdown in January or during Ramadan as per the calls of several quarters which has now led to thousands of Malaysians losing their lives,” he said in a Facebook post today. 

“Eventually they imposed a lockdown. But it was too late for thousands of families,” he added.

Citing worrying statistics, Najib said the death toll had climbed by 56% with 630 deaths reported last week alone.

This has placed Malaysia as among the countries which saw the highest jumps in death toll.

“Hopefully, this uptrend which has been noted since the last two months will not continue,” he said.

“I am also worried that the active cases were at a record high of 84,369 yesterday,” he said.

“There were 883 seriously ill patients in the intensive care units (ICU). (Also) a record.

“Seriously ill patients needing respiratory support was also at an all-time high with 459 patients. ICU capacity has reached 100% since May 25,” he added.

Meanwhile, Najib also took Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz to task in another posting for flip-flopping on the loan moratorium.

“The other day the finance minister said he had no power to instruct banks to give an automatic moratorium without interest,” he said.

“Today, he is saying that he has the power to instruct banks but the government must compensate the banks.

“Hence, he is saying that not having absolute power is also the reason why (such a move) will require the approval of the Cabinet,” he added.

Najib, who was Barisan Nasional former finance minister, concluded that either way banks will have an upper hand – that is if the government uses its power to order for a blanket moratorium and in turn be compensated by Putrajaya or in the event if the government does not call for a moratorium. 

The Pekan MP said in either scenario, the banks will walk away with profits. – June 5, 2021.