ACTIVIST Nathaniel Tan is on an indefinite hunger strike, hoping that this would jolt the government into taking urgent action to address the people’s woes caused by the health and economic crises.

The forty-year-old said he was tired of the unceasing political circus in the country, and has set five demands before he breaks his strike.

He told The Malaysian Insight the main reason behind his strike was the authorities were not giving attention to the people’s welfare.

Tan, who started his hunger strike yesterday afternoon, and consuming only liquid, is camping out on the walkway of a row of shop lots in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI), Kuala Lumpur.

He erected a small blue tent with a mini Malaysian flag on the roof of his temporary home during his strike. 

Tan’s first demand is to allow public policy experts such as consultant paediatrician Dr Amar Singh HSS, Universiti Malaya Dean of Faculty of Medicine and Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, physician Dr Khor Swee Kheng and others to advise the government on the course of action that should be taken to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

His second demand is for the government to allocate RM500 million to support hospitals in handling the pandemic.

“This money should not go to the hospital bureaucracy.

“Instead, ward doctors should be able to freely and openly list the equipment they need in a transparent manner, with no backlash,” he said.

Tan said his third demand is to allow civil servants to speak freely, emphasising the need to suspend the government general order prohibiting civil servants from speaking publicly.

“If medical front-liners do not tell us what is really happening on the ground, we cannot fight Covid-19 effectively.

“If the authorities continue to control the data and statistics and not make it freely available, we will not know how bad things are until it is too late,” he added.

His fourth demand is to allow employees who can work from home to skip going to the office.

“Too many companies are operating during the movement-control order period when they can work from home. Sort that out in order to control the traffic.”

His last demand is to provide free N95 masks and sanitisers to doctors, nurses and police personnel.

He added that the front-liners are risking their lives on a daily basis but “we make them buy their own masks”.

Tan said if the current leaders cannot fulfil these demands, they should then step aside.

He added that the public has a tendency to believe that they were powerless.

“There’s so much that Malaysians can do right now, and if we all stand together, there’s nothing the authorities can do against us.

“It’s up to Malaysians whether they want to join me but they can just voice out in their own way via social media online, honking their cars and so on.

“Wishing things to get back to normal when it’s abnormal is a recipe for death,” he said.

Family support

Tan said that he had no idea on how to tell his wife about his plan, adding that he, however, has her support in this struggle.

“There might be intimidation coming from the authorities towards me or my family but this will not stop me because if I am scared, I wouldn’t be here in the first place,” he said.

He said his inspiration for the hunger strike was Mahatma Gandhi.

“Mahatma Gandhi brought the British Empire to its knees without firing a single shot.

“He followed two simple principles: Never submit and never harm another. Maybe we cannot achieve what he achieved but we can do as he did,” he added.

Yesterday, Malaysia logged a record-high 257 Covid-19 deaths with 210,522 active cases, the highest numbers recorded since the start of the pandemic.

The number of fatalities yesterday eclipsed the previous high of 219 deaths reported on August 2.

The nation’s death toll is now inching closer to the 10,000 mark as yesterday’s fatalities brought the tally to 9,855.

At the same time, politicians are busy rounding up support to show who has the majority in Parliament to rule the nation.

While Umno has withdrawn its support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, thus reducing his majority, the latter stressed that he still enjoys majority support, and has put himself to face popular support when Parliament sits next month. – August 5, 2021.