THE respected Health Ministry director general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah came under heavy criticism on social media for supporting the Government’s decision to postpone today’s Parliamentary sitting.

“Malu lah Tan Sri kat rakyat malaysia. Masa kilang beribu2 kes Tan Sri tak berani nak suruh tutup kilang. Tan Sri bekerja untuk rakyat atau jadi balaci ahli politik?” asked user Ben Moses.

(You should be ashamed of yourself. When factories reported thousands of cases, you didn’t have the guts to order the sector to close. Are you working for the people or a political stooge?)

User Guna added: “Chief, this sounds not logical at all when all of them are fully vaccinated and the cases found are low in relative number of people inside the hall. Please do not bow to political pressure when you’re considered as the most trustworthy civil servant at the moment.”

Two days ago, Prime Minister Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin decided to postpone today’s Dewan Rakyat sitting under Standing Order 11 (3), as COVID-19 cases were detected at the premises.

“The postponement is in line with Health Ministry director general’s advise, after conducting risk assessment following COVID-19 cases being detected at the Parliament.

“The MOH opined that the Parliament was at risk due to COVID-19,” Dewan Rakyat secretary Nizam Mydin Bach Mydin was reported saying.

Yesterday (Aug 1), Noor Hisham defended the Government’s move saying that Parliamentary meetings need to be suspended for two weeks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections in the building, adding nine positive cases have been reported to date.

However, many were unimpressed with Noor Hisham’s argument.

User LaraWinchester said: “Hypermarket, PPV ada kluster, tutup sehari, sanitise lepas tu buka. Kilang ada kluster tak tutup. Ini Parlimen, semua dah vaksin, tutup 2 minggu ye? Nampak double standard dan helah Muhyddin nak kekal kuasa dgn menutup Parlimen. DG pun bersubahat.”

(Hypermarkets and PPV recorded clusters but they were only closed for a day for sanitisation and reopened the following day. Factories also recorded clusters but were not shuttered. Despite our MPs being fully vaccinated, the Parliament was ordered to close for two weeks. The double standard is so obvious and our DG is complicit in the Prime Minister’s move to hold on to power)

Increasing vaccine hesitancy

CodeBlue’s editor in chief Boo Su-Lyn opined that the narrative that it was not safe to resume work despite being fully inoculated may increase vaccine hesitancy among the public.

“Beyond politics, the govt narrative from Parliament closure implying that one still isn’t ‘safe’ and can’t resume work/ social activity — despite double shots — risks vax hesitancy. This harms our vaccination program touted by govt itself as the only solution to the Covid crisis,” she noted.

User Andromeda added: “You had 2 to 3 days to do full sanitization, disinfection of the affected areas in the Dewan Rakyat. Most MPs completed their 2nd dose & they can also do a RTK in the morning or a day before meeting. Come on! What’s wrong with you?”

Netizen Rose Jilani reminded Noor Hisham of what he told contract medical officers (MO) last week before they launched a strike for better perks.

“Remember the oath we made” Health DG Urges…

“So sad to see a medical professional becomes a puppy of the power and politicians and seems to have forgotten his own oath. If so, no way out of this pandemic. We have already sacrificed two academic years of our kids’ future.” – Aug 2, 2021.

https://focusmalaysia.my/political-stooge-noor-hisham-lynched-for-backing-parliament-adjournment/