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Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Malaysia in lockdown - what about my char koay teow?


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2 Weeks Lockdown! – Panic & Confusion Continue Before And After PM Muhyiddin Announced The “Big News”.



Malaysia has finally joined France, Spain and Italy in imposing lockdowns on tens of millions of people after the country recorded a disturbing jump – a jaw-dropping 190 patients – in new Covid-19 cases on Sunday (March 15). But hours before Prime Muhyiddin Yassin reveals his 2-week lockdown, confusion and panic had already started in major cities of Malaysia.

Supermarkets and grocery stores – Giant, Aeon, Aeon Big, Tesco, NSK, Mydin, Speed 99, KK Super Mart and even Chinese medicine stores – were swarmed by people who had a bad feeling when Muhyiddin said there would be some “big news” on the night of Monday (March 16). The PM said – “I’ll announce today quite a big news. Just bear with me. Just wait until tonight.”

It wasn’t that hard to guess that a lockdown was coming. If there was no such plan in the first place, the government would normally deny and rubbish such rumours to prevent unnecessary panic in the already sagging economy. Already, the country has the largest number of confirmed cases in Southeast Asia, with 125 new cases reported on Monday.





Even the latest 125 new cases were viewed with suspicion that the new government of Muhyiddin might have “under-reported” the numbers. With the overall tally skyrockets to 553 cases of Coronavirus, of which many of the new infections are linked to a religious “Tabligh” gathering attended by about 16,000 people at Sri Petaling mosque, the prime minister had limited options.

Hence, supermarket shelves were emptied of essential goods at lightning speed. Groceries such as baby formula, eggs, canned food, frozen meat, instant noodles, rice, bread, biscuits and of course, toilet paper, were selling like hot potatoes. It didn’t help that the supposedly 9pm announcement by the prime minister was later postponed to 10pm.

Refused to call it a “lockdown” for obvious reason, PM Muhyiddin, who was sworn in as the 8th Prime Minister slightly more than 2 weeks ago (March 1), announced on television channels that his government had decided to put the country under a nationwide movement control order from this Wednesday (March 18) until March 31 due to the Covid-19 outbreak.





He said – “The government’s priority now is to avoid the spreading of new infections, which will affect more people. Therefore, drastic action needs to be taken. We cannot wait any longer until the situation becomes more acute. The government has decided to implement ‘restriction of movement order’ starting from March 18 to March 31.”

The PM justified that the decision was made under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 and the Police Act 1967. He announced the coverage of the nationwide lockdown. Firstly, a complete ban on all mass gatherings, including religious, sports, social and cultural activities was announced. Clearly, this was to arrest the criticism over the religious rally at Sri Petaling.

However, just hours before Muhyiddin’s so-called movement control order, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri had announced that all religious activities in mosques – including Friday prayer – will be suspended for only 10 days following a decree by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King).





The religious chief said – “All activities at mosques and surau including Friday prayers and congregational prayers are to be suspended, starting March 17 to 26. All mosque and surau committees are advised to conduct cleaning and sanitising as a precautionary measure.” So, whose order will take precedence? Will the suspension of mosques’ religious activities be 10 days or 14 days?

The suspension of mass gatherings also means all business premises have to be shut down, except supermarkets, wet markets, convenience stores and grocery shops selling daily essentials. But considering mega-mall is a concept where you can find everything under one roof, does that mean only selective shops will be allowed to operate?

Will fast food chains like KFC, McDonald’s, Texas Chicken, A&W, Pizza Hut and Chicken Rice Shop have to close for the 2-week holiday? If they have to close, where will family who does not cook get their food? Even Grab Food and Food Panda will not be able to deliver food if the restaurants are completely closed. But if they can operate, it means public gatherings will happen.

It was also announced that all Malaysians will be banned from travelling abroad, and that no tourists or foreigners will be allowed to enter the country. Malaysians who have just arrived from abroad must undergo self-quarantine for 14 days. This alone speaks volumes that the latest measure to fight the Coronavirus is a complete nationwide lockdown, not a movement control.



what about char koay teow? 


The good news for all students was the order to all public and private schools, including kindergartens, nurseries, residential school, religious school, and other educational institutions to be closed. All private and public higher institutions of learning as well as vocational training centres will also close nationwide during the 2-week period.

In addition, all government and private premises would be closed except those providing essential services such as utilities (water, electricity, energy), telecommunications, transport, banking, health, pharmacies, ports, prisons, ports, airports, security, cleaning and food supplies. Does the lockdown include suspension of weddings and even funerals, as did by Italy.





Still, Muhyiddin’s lockdown order, the first of its kind in the country’s history, fails to clarify if Malaysians – ranging from 250,000 to 300,000 people – who commute between the country and Singapore daily to work will be affected. Despite Singapore’s latest border restrictions on travellers, the Government of Singapore allows Malaysians and Singaporeans to commute from both sides.

While the lockdown looks bold and necessary, like it or not, it creates more confusion and vagueness. Will the business of providing IT services and maintenance still operate, without which the essential banking or hospitalization services, for example, might collapse? Where should the people go if they have tyre punctures or car breakdown if tyre shops or workshops are all closed?

More importantly, who is going to enforce the lockdown? Without proper enforcement, it would be business as usual. It was both entertaining and hilarious when PM Muhyiddin said that supply of food and daily essentials, including face masks, were sufficient nationwide. Obviously he hadn’t a clue that face masks had ran out of stock weeks ago.





10 comments:

  1. Restaurants and other eateries are allowed to open during these 14 days, but no sit-in dining, only delivery of food from their kitchens allowed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MCA/Wee KHAT Siong dapat Jaga Kereta Ministry again.

    He is still counting the number of incoming flights into KLIA. Once this is completed he will write a PhD thesis. But we all know his conclusion will be to re-establish matching grant to TARUC.

    His job should be to protect MAS jobs and MAS itself. But he remained silent over PAS deputy minister's comment about MAS stewardess' sexy attire. He also remained silent over the same person's comment on underaged marriage.

    KT was so critical of Wan Azizah and Hannah before over child marriage, hentam Wan Azizah as a Japanese fan-waving prima donna but now so silent when PAS wants to retain this abhorrent practice.

    He is only concerned about char koay teow, and RUBBISH in restaurants.

    Since Malaysians are so religious, Saifuddin (Communications and Multimedia) should dedicate one TV channel to one religion for transmitting their celebrations online so that Malaysians don't have to go to mosque/temple/church. Internet is overloaded and not accessible to everyone. But cannot mix channels yah. Easter coming soon.....then Ramadan.....Other countries have been using TV for religious purposes for decades. But in Malaysia so "sensitive" that one might tune in to the "wrong" channel?

    Minister of Health must "appropriate" essential resources in the private hospitals. Eg the have many more respirators than govt hospitals.

    Go on PN, you wanted to be in government, now govern. Reap What You Sow ha ha ha...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ktemoc suddenly lost interest in holding the new Backdoor/ Backside government accountable on Child marriages.

      Whereas previously he was contemptuous of Wan Azizah and Hannah, continuously making fun of the one-time photo of Wan Azizah holding a fan.

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    2. AREN'T THERE FAR MORE INTERESTING TOPICS CURRENTLY. BESIDES, AZALINA HAS CHEWED THAT PAS DEP MINISTER ALREADY

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    3. More rubbish excuses from KT. One person (Azalina) chew up the PAS lady, KT say enough already, no need to hentam some more.

      But after hundreds have already chewed up Toonsie for his treachery KT still attack him relentlessly on this blog day after day non stop.

      KT, please don't hide or deny your hatred for Toonsie. It's embarrassing to say the least. No shame to admit....really....

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    4. KT finds toilet paper, filthy restaurants and char koay teow more interesting and important compared to the despicable practice of child marriage which the PN government wants to continue.

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    5. Here is something interesting, KT's BossKu RPK re-tweeted a fake story:

      QUOTE
      Malaysia's ex-finance minister Lim Guan Eng to file defamation suit over false story on son's arrest

      Mr Lim said his family is "furious" over the claim, which was also published by Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau without the facts being verified.

      MAR 15, 2020, 5:27 PM

      Trinna Leong Malaysia Correspondent

      KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's former finance minister Lim Guan Eng is filing a defamation suit against an Umno Youth leader over a false story alleging his son was arrested in Singapore.

      In a statement issued on Sunday (March 15), Mr Lim, who is also secretary-general of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), said his family is "furious" over the claim, which was also published by Chinese daily Nanyang Siang Pau without the facts being verified.

      "My family is furious for such shameless targeting of our innocent children, who are not in politics," said Mr Lim.

      He said that the false accusation was also repeated by political parties Umno, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), and supporters of the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

      "A national Umno Youth leader using the name 'Papa Azri' had started off this malicious lie by stating that I flew to Singapore on 29 February, after my son was hauled up at Singapore Airport for bringing in RM2 million (S$661,400) in cash without proper declaration," he added. "This news then went viral through the BN and Umno support groups, especially their Internet websites".

      Papa Azri is a moniker used by Umno Youth leader Wan Muhammad Azri.

      Rumours of 28-year-old Clint Lim's arrest in Singapore went viral on Saturday on social media, and was later written up by pro-Umno blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin in the Malaysia Today site.

      Nanyang issued a statement on Sunday apologising to the affected person in the article as well as to its readers. It had identified the affected person only as the son of a senior Pakatan Harapan (PH) leader, but not named Mr Lim or the DAP, which is part of the PH pact.

      "Upon checks, the report was based on incorrect information," the Chinese daily said.

      This is not the first time Mr Lim's children have been the subject of false reports.

      In 2011, various blogs uploaded a post alleging that another son, Marcus, had molested a classmate. The claim was later proved to be false after the purported victim, a chess champion from Hong Kong, said she had never met him. Her photo on the blogsites was found to have been taken from a chess tournament she participated in.

      On Saturday, national police chief Hamid Bador confirmed that allegations of Clint's arrest were unfounded.

      "It is definitely not true… We have not gotten any report that his (Mr Lim's) son was detained in Singapore," Tan Sri Hamid said.

      "This is definitely fake news being spread," he told The Star daily. He also denied that Clint is being investigated by police.

      Mr Hamid said that the police will instead investigate perpetrators behind the misinformation.

      Mr Lim said that he expected to be attacked by his political opponents with threats and falsehoods. But he lashed out at attacks against his family, saying: "My political opponents who are now in power, have shown themselves without any shame, bereft of moral or humane values and upbringing by mercilessly targeting my innocent children."
      UNQUOTE

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    6. Tsk, tsk, tsk..SMH. Aiyoh, so pathetic punya Ktemoc..."aren't there far more interesting topics.." Better STFU and let this spot on criticism die down on its own la. Anything is better than being so pathetic, hehe

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  3. many questions need clarification, but pn react much better than ph, if under mahathir, no action taken, he priorities investment n biz, he care very less of people health by looking at his stand on lynas n are. n his running dog dare not question him, while his running dog no1 would still busy collecting income tax.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Food outlets are a difficult issue, and the Government needs to be sensible about it.

    There are actually significant numbers of people who would not be able to cook their own meal or not every meal anyway. Other countries which have implemented social distancing processes have allowed food outlets to continue operating for deliveries and take-away, no sit-in customers.

    For the formal sector of the economy, enforcing the lockdown should be a straightforward matter. All businesses need to comply , or else they risk fines or loss of business license.
    It is far more difficult to enforce for Malaysia's large informal sector.

    ReplyDelete