KUALA LUMPUR (July 8): Malaysia needs creative and agile solutions premised on a national coalition to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic — the "preponderant" challenge facing all Malaysians — amid heightened political uncertainty, said veteran lawmaker Lim Kit Siang.

The aim of the war against the pandemic should also shift from zero tolerance of the coronavirus to coexistence with it, said Kit Siang, who is member of Parliament of Iskandar Puteri.

In a statement today, the DAP committee member said the "invisible but lethal war" against the disease will be for the long haul, with experts predicting that it will take at least two to three more years before life returns to pre-pandemic normalcy.

However, after the UMNO Supreme Council's decision last night to withdraw support for the Perikatan Nasional government, a new political scenario has emerged, said Kit Siang.

"This is most unfortunate for all energies should be focused on how to build a national coalition to win the war against the Covid-19 pandemic instead of waging political warfare.

"Be that as it may, we are in a new political scenario where no one seems to be able to command a clear majority of support of members of Parliament and this calls for an agile and creative solution based on a national coalition to win the war against Covid-19 pandemic," Kit Siang added.

Hence, he is recommending the following solutions:
1. Continuation of the present government, but mindful of the need for an agreed consensus to form a national coalition encompassing the executive, Parliament and the various sectors of Malaysian society to overcome the pandemic.
2. A new government with the consensus for a national coalition encompassing the executive, Parliament and the various sectors of Malaysian society.
3. A new government, with representatives from all parties represented in Parliament.

"This is the time for Malaysians, guided by the Malaysian Constitution and the five Rukun Negara principles of nation-building, to put on their thinking caps and come up with ideas as how Malaysians can win the war against Covid-19 pandemic, before more damage is done to the Malaysian economy and society, apart from more deaths and suicides as a result of the pandemic," he urged.

Kit Siang said yesterday's Covid-19 statistics, along with the "triple failures of the emergency" — namely the twice-extended lockdowns and the National Recovery Plan — underscore Malaysia's losing battle against the pandemic.

"In the first seven days of July, Malaysia registered a rolling daily average of 6,830 Covid-19 new cases, when we should be reaching the threshold of less than 4,000 cases on June 28, and the question in many minds is when the 'total lockdown' will be lifted as it has proved to be a total failure," he added.

There were 47,811 cases of Covid-19 and 598 fatalities in the first seven days of July.

Before the emergency was declared on Jan 11, 2021, Malaysia had a cumulative total of 135,992 Covid-19 cases and 551 Covid-19 deaths.

"Now Malaysia has a cumulative total of 799,790 Covid-19 cases and 5,768 Covid-19 deaths — which means that there had been 663,798 Covid-19 cases and 5,219 Covid-19 deaths during the six-month emergency.

"This must be the most failed emergency in the world, which in six months increased by six times the cumulative total of Covid-19 cases in the previous 12 months; and in six months, increased by almost 10 times the number of Covid-19 fatalities of the previous 12 months," he said.

He warned that Malaysia could exceed a million infections and 10,000 deaths by National Day on Aug 31, with the figure rising to over 1.2 million cases and more than 11,000 deaths by Malaysia Day on Sept 16, if the situation goes unchecked.