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Azmin Ali, Malaysia’s power grab architect, under fire for ‘half-baked’ coronavirus lockdown
- Over 80,000 people have signed a petition calling for the International Trade and Industry Minister to resign after non-essential businesses including a furniture firm were granted exemptions from a supposedly ‘total’ lockdown
- Malaysia has been setting back-to-back records in daily new cases and critics say the waivers will pile more pressure on a health-care system already at breaking point
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Tens of thousands of people on Thursday signed an online petition calling for the resignation of Malaysia’s International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali as anger brewed over the large number of businesses granted permission to operate during an ongoing Covid-19 “total lockdown”.
Critics said the waivers, some of which were handed to non-essential businesses, would severely compromise the impact of the June 1 to June 14 lockdown just as the health-care system was reaching breaking point.
An earlier partial lockdown failed to stem a surge in cases which has brought on back-to-back records in daily new cases and fatalities.
Amid online vitriol against him on Thursday, Azmin – second in command in Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government – issued a statement clarifying that his ministry was not the sole government department responsible for vetting and approving applications.
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Instead, he said 15 ministries were involved in the approval process as part of the country’s Covid-19 Intelligent Management System (CIMS).
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“The Ministry of Trade and Industry is not the sole decision maker on whether a business sector is considered an essential service or not,” Azmin said.
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