NAJIB Razak has chided Mohamed Azmin Ali for claiming that Malaysia’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government was the best in the world.

The senior minister must look at how the Bersatu-led coalition performed based on the amount of cases and deaths in comparison with neighbouring countries, and the average global statistics on the coronavirus, said the ex-prime minister.

“During that period, figures showed that Malaysia was the worst country in Asean, besides being among the worst in the world,” he said in a Facebook post.

“We were (among) the world champions of Covid-19 at that time.”

Azmin, who is international trade and industry minister, on Monday said PN received global recognition as the best government in handling pandemic recovery efforts.

“We need to continue this success. I leave it to the people to make the right decision in the state elections (in Johor).”

Najib told Azmin that half-baked lockdowns during the PN rule had prevented citizens from visiting their hometowns for two consecutive years – by far the longest in the world.

“Back then, we kept being highlighted in international media’s Covid-19 indices for the wrong reasons.

“(Malaysia was) the only country that had implemented an emergency and suspended Parliament for so long until the Agong and Malay rulers had to order for it (emergency) to be lifted.

“(It was) also the only country in Asean that had its economic ratings lowered, until it lost its decades-old A-grade standing.”

Najib said Azmin overlooked the fact that the number of suicides and folk waving white flags increased during the PN rule, and that the government responded by appealing to the public for donations.

He also claimed that PN was not transparent about the actual number of Covid-19 deaths, which was revealed only after Ismail Sabri Yaakob took over as prime minister in August.

Since the onset of the pandemic, Malaysia has recorded more than 2.93 million cases and 32,000 deaths.

The PN government was replaced by a Barisan Nasional government in August, but the majority of ministers remains the same. – February 9, 2022.