Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing has refused to retract insulting remarks suggesting the director-general of health was a coward for not going to Sabah to assess the Covid-19 situation.
“No retraction. This is from the frontliners,” said Tiong in response to Deputy Speaker Azalina Othman Said’s query if he wished to apologise, retract or clarify his remarks about Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in the Dewan Rakyat.
Tiong had early dismissed the health official’s work in relation to the coronavirus epidemic.
“Every day he announces clusters. If it’s just an announcement, even the office boy can do this. Why does he not go to the ground? Like the Kota Kinabalu Hospital now it is in bad shape,” he said while debating the budget.
“He should go see and talk with the frontliners. Doctors, nurses are all working. They don’t seem afraid to die but the director general is scared of dying. The DG and his deputy don’t want to go.
“I hear he wants to be the WHO secretary-general. He’s not qualified, in my opinion,” Tiong said, referring to the World Health Organisation.
After refusing to withdraw those remarks, Tiong proceeded to question the Health Ministry’s (MOH) response to the Covid-19 crisis.
“The SOPs are unclear and MOH has to explain the SOPs to the enforcers who are now interpreting them for themselves,” said Tiong.
“Take the two persons per car ruling. The police say two people cannot sit together in front but in the airplanes, we sit side by side. People are angry about these inconsistencies and they are suffering but yet the police fine them.
“it is the same with the petrol station incident,” said Tiong, referring to a viral voice recording of a man alleging his father, while refuelling at a petrol station, was fined RM1,000 by police for failing to log his location on MySejahtera.
Tiong said the MOH and National Security Council needed to do a better job coordinating on the SOPs and not constantly amend them.
Yesterday, Senior Minister Ismail Sabri had to correct the police after they fined a man at a petrol station in Ipoh for not checking in with the MySejahtera app.
The defence minister was asked to clarify the rules after Bukit Aman CID deputy director Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said the app check-in was mandatory at the fuel pumps. – TMI