KUALA LUMPUR: The opposition have been urged not to reject Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob's invitation to join his administration's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Alliance for Safe Community chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said the prime minister's offer is a welcome gesture as it allows the government to develop workable solutions for the country's problems.
"We look forward to another fresh start with a new prime minister in the driver's seat.
"In his maiden address to the nation, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri called on the opposition to work together in facing the nation's most immediate challenges – fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and reviving the economy.
"His offer of an olive branch to the opposition is an admission that the government does not have all the answers to fight these challenges and that there is a role for all stakeholders – in the private and public sectors – to devise workable solutions for the nation's multifarious problems.
"This is a welcome gesture that the opposition must not reject as they did with the overture that previous prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin made to the other side," he said in a statement today.
However, Lee said the newly minted prime minister fell short of some expectations, including an assurance that his government will put a firm lid on endemic corruption.
"Repeating platitudes of good governance alone is not enough to act against this scourge. We have achieved independence for 63 years from colonial rule, but we are certainly not free from the shackles of corruption.
"It needs sustained efforts from the new administration to fight corruption. There was also no mention, besides a vague reference to a 'Malaysian Family', of a matter of paramount importance – national unity," he said.
Therefore, Lee said he hoped the new government will retain the National Unity Ministry and task it to proactively tackle threats faced by the country's multi-ethnic and multi-religious fabric.
The government, he said, should also take input from non-governmental organisations regarding the National Unity Action Plan.
"There were too many missed opportunities in the past when the government should have appealed to the voices of reason and moderation and to drive home the message that Malaysia is, and will always be, a multi-racial nation irrespective of race, colour, creed, location, origin or persuasion.
"It is also hoped that the new prime minister will be more effective than he was as the deputy prime minister in the old administration," he said.
In his maiden address to the nation yesterday, Ismail Sabri invited the opposition members of Parliament to be part of the National Recovery Council (NRC) and the Special Committee on Covid-19.