Opposition reps to sit in on Putrajaya’s top Covid-19 meetings?

Putrajaya may invite representatives from the opposition bloc to take part in its daily high-level meetings on Covid-19, in an unprecedented response to criticism of the authorities’ handling of the pandemic, MalaysiaNow has learnt.

It is believed that the proposal to allow the opposition to sit in on the meetings came from several ministers, on the back of accusations from a Sarawak MP that health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had not been going to the ground and was seeking publicity through his daily Covid-19 press conferences.

Following this, MalaysiaNow understands that the government decided to despatch Noor Hisham and the prime minister’s top health adviser to Parliament.

“The aim is to explain the government’s actions to contain the pandemic with academic backing, as well as to put a stop to baseless accusations from the opposition MPs,” a source told MalaysiaNow.

Addressing the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing, from Sarawak’s ruling GPS coalition, asked if Noor Hisham was “scared of death”.

He said Noor Hisham had failed to visit hospitals in Sabah affected by the recent spike in Covid-19 cases, and accused him of gunning for the job of the World Health Organization secretary-general.

The government recently declared a one-month conditional movement control order in all states except for Perlis, Kelantan and Pahang.