THE government must restore all its counter services if Malaysia is to continue its recovery, Hannah Yeoh said. 

“The recovery phase will be ineffective if the government cannot restore normal operations as too many businesses depend on them for permits and licences,” said the Segambut MP in Dewan Rakyat today. 

She said that many Malaysians were already hampered as they had to make appointments before gaining access to counter services. 

“As it is, we already know how hard it is to gain access to the MySejahtera help desk for Covid-19 vaccination issues.” 

She said the services require hotlines with officers and not email services alone. 

“In this regard, I suggest that the government abolish the MyTravelPass and restore all government counter services to normal capacity,” said Yeoh. 

Meanwhile, Yeoh also questioned Parliament for only allowing 16 media organisations to cover proceedings physically. 

“How did Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun choose the media outlets that were allowed to cover proceedings physically? 

“How is it that MalaysiaNow, which was just set up last year, is allowed to cover Parliament while Free Malaysia Today, The Malaysian Insight or Malay Mail Online can not?” said the former Selangor assembly speaker.

She said that Azhar must explain his rationale for allowing MalaysiaNow to cover Parliament proceedings when more established media outlets are left out. 

“Parliament must be fair to media practitioners and must allow for media freedom so that they can cover everyone fairly,” said Yeoh. 

Citing Covid-19 concerns, Azhar said that only 16 media companies were allowed to physically cover Parliament proceedings.

Among those dropped from the list were media institutions such as the New Straits Times and Utusan Malaysia. 

Azhar appears to have made the decision based on limiting on site coverage to two news organisations per language or type of media outlet, but there is no explanation as to why new outfits like MalaysiaNow were given preferences. – September 20, 2021.