The former international trade and industry minister said viruses and its mutations will always be present in the environment, although advancements in the medical field can help keep them at bay.

“We can never ‘exit’ Covid but we can forge that necessary resilience among the population to enable them to be resistant to the virus,” she said in a Facebook post.

Rafidah said this mentality (that we can exit) is what drove decision-makers to instruct businesses to close by 8pm. The key to moving forward, she said, was vaccination and analysing the impact of the pandemic in every aspect of the people’s lives, starting now.

Rafidah also said the government cannot continue to function as it does now and called for parliament to reconvene, especially since all MPs have been vaccinated.

All that is needed are the necessary facilities for question time, debates and any matter of national interest, such as public spending and debts accumulated, she said.

“The Rulers and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, in their collective wisdom, have given their guidance. The people need to know what has transpired over the period the backdoor government took over.”

Rafidah also called for the Emergency to be lifted, as the management of the pandemic never warranted a state of emergency.

“We need to exit soonest from the quagmire of transactional politics, and politics of bartering whatever can be offered, in exchange for ‘support to survive’.”

A statement from the palace yesterday said the King was aware of the important role of Parliament in discussing Covid-19 issues, and wanted it to be reconvened as soon as possible.

This was followed by a joint statement by the Malay Rulers that there was no need for the nation to remain under a state of emergency after Aug 1.

Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal Syed Danial Syed Ahmad said the Rulers acknowledged the health and economic crises that the pandemic had created, as well as the volatile political situation and growing disunity among the people.