WHILE politicians may be smart, they lack the intelligence to handle the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Mahathir Mohamad told the Dewan Rakyat today.

The Langkawi MP said politicians should not meddle in the National Recovery Council, which should be manned by professionals.

The council, to be chaired by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, would look into efforts to execute the National Recovery Plan (NRP) smoothly and further strengthen Covid-19 pandemic containment strategies.

Dr Mahathir said, however, that politicians should not interfere because they only prioritise political mileage over containing the virus.

“For example, when the situation improved a bit, politicians tried to conquer another state, which is Sabah, and, as a result the (Covid-19) cases climbed to 2,000 in a single day,” he said, referring to the Sabah state election last year, which saw a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Listing down more blunders, he said, when the emergency was declared, the daily case count went up to 5,000 and the daily tally shot up to 17,000 after the NRP was announced.

He said this only goes to show that decisions made on the basis of politics were not fruitful in containing the pandemic.

This is why, he said, there is a need for a body of experts to deal with the pandemic.

Dr Mahathir said the government must also consider making vaccination more accessible.

Meanwhile, Nga Kor Ming (Teluk Intan-PH) said the Health Ministry had been using the same old techniques to contain the virus but expecting different results.

He added that nine vaccination centres in Perak had to be closed due to insufficient supplies but at the same time the government allowed Pharmaniaga Bhd to sell 14 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine on the open market while Majuperak Holdings had its own deal.

He questioned how the government had allowed the sales of vaccines and whether these were additional stocks.

“This is inhumane. This is a crime against humanity,” he said.

The former deputy speaker of the Dewan Rakyat said the government will not be able to achieve its herd immunity target as the vaccination registrations had not even reached 80% six months after the program started.

He, therefore, sought explanation on how the government plans to address the issue.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba had briefed the house on the actions taken to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.  – July 27, 2021.