By Gigian Chin
The Kuala Lumpur Chinese Assembly Hall (KLCAH) pointed out that according to an online survey, the “Hundred Day Challenge” set by The Prime Minister Dato’Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob recently for his cabinet was not well accepted by the public. The reason is that it is unreasonable for a cabinet where most ministers have been in office for 17 months with a mere Ministerial change, would take another 100 days to show results.
The survey also revealed that the people were unsatisfied with the fact that the cabinet retained a similar lineup of 70 people, and the government missed a good opportunity to show its determination to reform and downsize its cabinet.
KLCAH published the results of the survey after initiating a 4-day online public opinion survey and online data analysis after the announcement of the candidates for the cabinet ministers and deputy ministers. The public provided their opinions through WhatsApp, KLCAH official website, and official Facebook page.
They issued a statement pointing out that according to data analysis, in the past three weeks (from August 7 to August 30) the death toll soared from 10,389 to 16,382, an increase of 5,993; if the figure continued, there will be as many as 26,000 people will be sacrificed innocently after 100days.
As for the number of confirmed cases, from the beginning of the pandemic last year to May this year, the number of confirmed cases totaled 572,000. But for 3 months, from June 1（Full Lock Down） to August 30 2021 alone, the confirmed cases increased by 201% (1150,000 people) to 1.72million.
The statement pointed out that many people believe that the departments directly related to life-saving, namely the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of Home Affairs should be the key departments that need to improve their capabilities in the short term. This is because the Ministry of Health is involved in the arrangements of the medical system and medical staff, dispatch, medicine, and vaccines, all related to life-saving; while the military and police are departments that support the Ministry of Health at any time. The military can use resources to set up temporary emergency field hospitals, arrange medical personnel, ambulances, and traffic workers, support, etc.
“As for non-life-saving departments, such as economic-related and education-related departments, a longer time for planning is reasonable, such as saving businesses to secure jobs, saving poor families with insufficient supplies, opening of primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, and so on which requires a more complete strategy to proceed. For example, the SOP for Covid-19 prevention needs to take reference from previous experience, instead of using it to make things difficult for business people. It should be to protect them.”
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KLCAH President Datuk Seri Dr. KK Chai agreed with PM’s concept of “Keluarga Malaysia”, because the country cannot play a single-player role in the fight against the pandemic, instead, it requires the collective efforts of people from all races, and fair to all races especially minorities, and action should be taken against those who insult them.
“The “Keluarga Malaysia” should not be all talk but no show. On the contrary, they must ensure that the ruling and opposition parties cooperate sincerely to implement the national reformation agenda.”
He said that the biggest challenge for the new cabinet is to regain the confidence of the people after it has been disbanded and reorganized after the fight for power.
“If the government does not listen to the public when setting every policy, it is difficult to implement these policies effectively. Therefore, the government needs to conduct quick polls and meet with NGOs and associations before implementing the policies.”
He said that the government must listen to the voices of the people, and more importantly, understand the people’s livelihood to regain the support and trust of the people.
“Just like the request made by our Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, it is very important for the opposition MPs to put aside their political differences and provide opinions to the government and convey the public’s opinion.”
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Ten suggestions from KLCAH survey analysis:
Medical
1/Taking reference to the critical pandemic situation in the Klang Valley and Negeri Sembilan, prepare to face the same critical situation in other states, including increasing medical equipment, increasing ventilators, ICU beds, and increasing mortuary containers
2/Strengthen the supply of vaccines in other states, and do no longer delay the speed of vaccination in other states
3/Include representatives of civil organizations, NGOS, associations, and private sector professionals into the committees that set policies, allowing the government to listen to and adopt public opinions; since China has achieved good clinical efficacy in the prevention and control of the pandemic. The advantages of TCM, like Lianhua Qingwen, which 26countries in the world start using it namely Italy, Kuwait, and Singapore, in the treatment of COVID-19 include effective relief of symptoms, retarding the development from mild and moderate to severe, improvement of cure rate, reducing death rates, and promotion of rehabilitation.
Education
4/ Before the school opens, it is necessary to ensure that more than 50% of the students and 100% of the staff have been vaccinated; After the school is opened, teachers need to identify students who are far behind in their studies and provide additional teaching sessions so that they can catch up with other students.
5/ Take note of the mental health of staff and students, find out any problem that may arise and provide counseling, special financial aid, etc.
Economy
6/ Reopen various economic sectors under strict SOPs, including resuming normal business hours, etc., and identify whether an industry should operate based on the level of risk, rather than necessity or non-essential
7/ Following the model of resuming economic sectors in Europe, America, China, and Singapore, the economy has entered the recovery period. The sectors currently most affected are small and medium-sized enterprises, tourism, hotels, restaurants, and aviation, save the unemployed people.
8/ Tourism and related sectors have been suspended for a long time. Relevant government departments also need to listen to the opinions of the industry and provide financial assistance when setting the reopening SOP.
9/ All SOPs will be required to listen and incorporate the views and opinions of the industry players
Politics
10/ Implement political reforms step by step, including anti-hopping laws, 18-year-old voting, automatic registration of voters, senior officials wealth reporting, political funding laws, etc.
