KUALA LUMPUR: Prolonged "half-baked" Covid-19 lockdowns caused the destruction of the nation's finances and the lives of the rakyat, says Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
"While in Malaysia, half-baked lockdowns were among the longest periods in the world which was implemented by the 'Father of Malaysian Lockdown'," he said when debating Budget 2022 in Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Nov 1).
Although not mentioning specific names, Najib is believed to be referring to former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the "Father of Malaysian Lockdown", owing to the implementation of several movement control orders (MCO) during his administration.
Najib said that despite the MCO, the Covid-19 death rate in Malaysia was among the highest in the world based on population ratio.
He also noted that RM600bil in allocation spent by the government over the last one and half years was inadequate to help the rakyat.
Although commending efforts by the government to assist the hardest hit such as the B40 group, single mothers and students with cash aid, Najib said that proper implementation of the programmes was crucial.
He urged the government not to repeat the previous approach taken to help these groups.
"Many who were supposedly eligible to get aid were suddenly denied with all sorts of unreasonable excuses.
"As long as they are Malaysians, we need to give them the benefit of the doubt.
"It is nobler to mistakenly help a person who does not qualify than to deny the right of aid to those who truly need it," he said.
On a separate note, Najib also suggested the government award the High-Speed Rail (HSR) project to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Permodalan Nasional Berhad as means to ensure better returns to contributors.
However, he said this was on condition the HSR original alignment between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore is revived.
He said the current alignment between Kuala Lumpur-Johor was not viable and would only save 15% of the project's cost.