The Reason To Close Parliament Is NOT Based On Proper Science

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Press statement by YB Kelvin Yii:

The recent statement by the DG of Health TAN SRI DATO’ SERI DR. NOOR HISHAM to try justify the closing of Parliament is sadly seems to double down on proper science and even contrary with the federal government’s own National Recovery Plan (NRP) parameter for safe opening of workplace or our economy.

A functioning parliamentary democracy is an essential service, especially during a pandemic as there must be appropriate public scrutiny, law-making and broad discussions to address core issues especially on the Emergency Ordinance, which has far-reaching influence on our economy, health and approach towards Covid-19.

First and foremost, a low “CT level” which was the main justification used to paint a picture of high infectivity, was never used as a metric for public health decision making. It is a virology tool rather than a metric use to make decisions on how long a location must be closed.

Even if the CT value is low, as long as the patient is properly isolated, and all other SOPs are properly adhered to, the source of transmission is isolated thus mode of transmission is cut. There is no logically explanation why the Parliament cannot continue to function, especially 4 days after the detected cases.

That is why the DG and even the Ministry of Health must come out to answer to us, when has MOH used CT value to make public health decisions prior to 1st August 2021. Please show us hard data and not just give general statements and justify.

Other than that, other environmental factors used in the DG’s statement can be adjusted, including improving ventilation in the Parliament. There isn’t a need to close down the whole Parliament for 2 weeks just to deal with 0.9% of positive cases in Parliament.

Pusat Pemberian Vaksin (PPV) Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC), Shah Alam closed only for a day for sanitization after 200 plus Covid cases were detected. In many essential service facilities also deal with daily positive cases but yet after all necessary SOPs are adhered to, their functions are not drastically disrupted.

Why can’t this be done in Parliament?

Science and public health must be apolitical.
Parliament should have been the highest example used by the Government to confidently assure the public of the government’s NRP plans, especially to open economic sectors and workplaces safely. Instead, it has sadly shown to exemplify “incompetency” and “not-science-based decisions”

Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen
MP Bandar Kuching