{"id":10809,"date":"2021-08-15T12:07:29","date_gmt":"2021-08-15T04:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=10809"},"modified":"2021-08-15T12:07:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-15T04:07:30","slug":"set-aside-political-differences-focus-on-combatting-covid-19-saifuddin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=10809","title":{"rendered":"Set aside political differences, focus on combatting COVID-19 – Saifuddin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 —\u00a0The spirit of patriotism should now focus on fighting COVID-19 and putting aside political differences, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic that the country is going through should not be used to bring someone down in politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe spirit of patriotism should be focused on\u00a0needs, for example in the past during the colonialists\u2019 rule, our focus was against the colonialists and now the focus should be to fight COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"saifuddin\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

“However, in Malaysia, our politics are too adversarial so that even in the face of COVID-19 we are still embroiled in politics when we\u00a0should be focusing on mobilizing energy to address the problem of COVID-19,” he in the \u2018Soal Rakyat\u2019 program on\u00a0TV3 today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the National Day and Malaysia Day 2021 (HKHM 2021) celebrations, Saifuddin urged ministries, departments, and government agencies to fly\u00a0the Jalur Gemilang on their respective buildings and premises to express love and patriotism to the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said under the new norm, the ministry also encouraged online activities to enliven the celebration, including organizing poetry and storytelling competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the second year that Malaysians celebrate National Day and Malaysia Day during the COVID-19 era and large-scale events that gather many people cannot be held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“However, we encourage online activities, for example, Malaysians around the world will list patriotic songs which will be put together by the RTM Orchestra and played on National Day later,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year’s National Day celebration will be held at Dataran Pahlawan Negara, Putrajaya on Aug 31, while Malaysia Day will be celebrated at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC), Kota Kinabalu, on Sept 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

— BERNAMA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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