KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan today slammed International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali for alleging that the previous government refused to provide funds to the public amidst the Covid-19 outbreak.
Former Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said although Azmin's allegation was clearly a political attack, the latter, however, had gone overboard by making such an accusation.
"During the Slim by-election campaign, Azmin said more Malaysians will die during Covid-19 if PH was still the government and he said that I, as the (then) finance minister had refused to provide money to curb Covid-19.
"We can simply check news reports and statements where the PH government said it will provide all the necessary financial assistance needed. It was slander and a lie.
"Azmin made wild accusations and I hope he can provide the evidence for his allegations because this is unfair to the former Health Minister (Datuk Seri) Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad who did a great job," the Bagan MP told a press conference at the parliament building here today.
A video showing Azmin speaking at Kampung Hendra, Slim, in Perak has since gone viral with him saying that PH had failed as a government, was unable to fight for the people and that more Malaysians would die during the pandemic if PH had stayed in Putrajaya.
The senior minister also claimed that Lim, during his tenure as finance minister, had refused to allocate the necessary funds for the country's fight against Covid-19.
Dr Dzulkefly said he was disappointed with Azmin, saying that Malaysians should know that the latter was repeating a "terrible lie".
He said until Feb 24, during his tenure as Health Minister, there were only 24 Covid-19 cases and out of that, 22 people had fully recovered.
"There were only two people who stayed in the hospital ward and they were not even in the intensive care unit. There were no new cases for 11 days and there were no deaths reported during PH's administration.
"We allocated RM20 billion from the beginning. Azmin's allegation is evil, extremely irresponsible, despicable, regrettable and it must be revealed to the whole country," he said.
On Feb 15, during the PH administration, Lim revealed that former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was on track to announce an economic stimulus package on Feb 27.
Lim said the package aimed at preserving the welfare of the people and that the package was neither a new budget nor part of the 2020 Budget.
However, the PH government collapsed on Feb 24 following a political coup by several MPs which was known as the Sheraton Move.
On Feb 27, the then interim prime minister Dr Mahathir announced a RM20 billion economic stimulus package to cushion the impact caused by Covid-19.