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Monday, February 01, 2021

PN's business as usual, even in a worst-case Covid scenario

Malaysiakini:



PN's business as usual, even in a worst-case Covid scenario

by S Thayaparan

“Why are we really implementing an MCO when Covid-19 cases are rising but restrictions are getting looser. If that is the case, just stop the MCO to be fair to everyone.”

- Najib Abdul Razak

COMMENT | Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the government would not implement a total lockdown even if a worst-case scenario comes true.


This begs the question: what is the worst-case scenario? What happens if the healthcare system breaks down? What happens if the majority of the frontliners get Covid-19 and a sizeable majority of them perish?

What happens if the businesses collapse because the rakyat, in the grip of an unattended pandemic, imposes a lockdown on themselves for fear of spreading the virus to high-risk groups in their families?

Why did this government declare an emergency and claim that this pandemic was the cause for such an action if it is not treating this as war, a war I might add that this government is losing?

Already the federal government’s response to this pandemic has been scaling down testing and loosening restrictions, even as the numbers climb. Hence we get an inkling of what may happen when it comes to "tightening SOPs" in a worst-case scenario.

Najib is right when he asked why the need for this MCO when everything seems to be open and superspreader situations like night markets and the like are given the green light to open while the government continues to harp on the efficacy of the MCO and the need for an emergency posture.

This half-past-six MCO, like the faux emergency, is making this country a tragic lesson in what not to do in a pandemic and the public is rightly confused every time Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob issues his nonsensical diktats and feuds with Pakatan Harapan political operatives on Twitter because of his xenophobic statements.



Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) chairperson Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, as usual, wrote a coherent piece on herd immunity and vaccinating foreign workers, which is completely different from the government stance of demonising foreign workers and attempting to make them the focus of the federal governments failed response.

One point that stands out in his piece is this: “Are they (foreign workers) waiting with bated breath for the vaccine? I seriously doubt it. Because for them, Covid-19 isn’t as serious a threat as it is for Malaysians. Migrant workers are, on the whole, fairly healthy adults between the age of 20 and 50 years. The chance of them dying of Covid-19 is very low.”

This is the problem right here. No, not the foreign workers, but rather the response of the federal government to this reality. While the pandemic may not be a health problem for them, it is a serious economic problem for them and this, in turn, results in an unwitting spreading of the virus through local communities for various reasons, none of which remotely coincides with the anti-foreigner narratives of the state.

When the rakyat sees political operatives breaking SOPs, or when the government rolls back on restrictions, it makes the pandemic less serious and it becomes a partisan issue, rather than a health emergency.

There is a strong mistrust for what the government is doing and the statements and strategy coming out from the occupants of Putrajaya do nothing to allay those fears and mistrust. Take the issue of testing. The Health director-general claims that the system is under such a burden and that the Health Ministry has decided to scale down on testing.

Therefore, when groups representing private hospitals and practitioners ask the government not to threaten them because of slow test results, what we have is a toxic brew of government incompetence that bleeds into the private sector that is already struggling with the economic effects of the pandemic.

As the numbers go up, state administrators scramble to find excuses and blame shifts while the federal government, embroiled in political machinations, attempts to paint a picture of competency.

Meanwhile the rakyat, jaded and fatigued, go about dismantling the new normal in creative ways because neither the MCO nor the emergency makes any sense, beyond putting up hurdles to supporting their families.

I still want an answer from Harapan as to what their policies would be when it comes to handling this pandemic. State-run Harapan governments like Selangor and Penang are as incompetent as the federal government, embroiled in petty national politics – which only does to further the safety of their populace.

I still want to know how Harapan would deal with enforcement and outreach programmes because this present government has proved that it is not up to the task.



The vaccine issue is a mess, with nobody in the government attempting to formulate a strategy of vaccination beyond the numerous scandals involving vaccines and the companies aiming to distribute them.

As I argued in another piece, this “emergency”, and we can add the current MCO, is a complete mess. As the numbers go up and the excuses pile up, the people who are suffering are those who are the most economically disenfranchised and those whose job security are at the whims of a federal bureaucracy that is more interested in saving its own behind than formulating a cohesive federal level strategy to battle this pandemic.

And let us not even discuss the frontliners, who we are told are at a breaking point – but which do not warrant serious mitigation policies to ease the burden on them.

I spoke to a Harapan political operative who favoured a targeted approach to the MCO, which she hopes would include stricter enforcement, and to another Harapan political operative who was in favour of a total lockdown for two weeks to get a handle on the situation before easing up on restrictions.

Both place the health safety of frontliners first because both have been involved in the health security issue for years and have seen, first hand in other Third World countries, what happens when the healthcare system breaks down. They fear the same could happen here.

It should make you wonder: if the worst-case scenario ever materialises, what would be PN's response?

We are dealing with a pandemic, the aftermath of which would have major implications on the way we live and work.

Business as usual in this case could be crippling.


S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. A retired barrister-at-law, he hopes young people will assume the mantle of leadership – if there is to be any hope for this country.

9 comments:

  1. Bossku paling hebat.

    Way to go Bossku !
    You are the hero back to save the day !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tengku Zafrul belum buat kerja dengan baik sudah dapat gelaran Datuk Seri Utama on FT Day. Macam Noor Hisham, dapat Tan Sri kemudian kes2 Covid meningkat sampai beribu ribu.

    Patut ikut contoh Father and Son. Guanee CM Penang selama 10 tahun, FM selama 22 bulan, Datuk pangkat bawah pun takde. Saudara saja. Atau bapak Lim. 50 tahun dalam politik, wakil rakyat 13 kali, JP pun yilek.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dozens of opposition MPs and others have hentam this Emergency and MCO, but Capt Thaya-Pandai choose to quote a gomen MP who is a convicted criminal.

    Jibby says “everything seems to be open”? I can name two things which are not:

    1. Parliament
    2. The court hearing your corruption cases

    If the worst case scenario materializes what would be PN’s response? Duduk rumah makan Mee Maggi. Senang dimasak sedap dimakan. Ha ha ha....

    ReplyDelete
  4. The failure of the PN gomen is summed up by the total submission, now obedience of a one-time hero Tan Sri Dr Noor Hashim, who now speaks like a gomen spokesman as he incredibly tries to explain why an Emergency, including the shutting down of parliament, is needed to control Covid.

    QUOTE
    Vijay 47: Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, I have long been one of the diminishing members of your supporters’ band who still hold you in high regard.

    I have refused to nail blame squarely on your shoulders for the increasing Covid-19 numbers since that is a war where everybody has a role of differing import to play, with you as our general.

    Yet there have been strategies adopted which were surprising, to say the least, measures that were enforced with contrasting vigour. In all this I considered you a reluctant victim of political manoeuvrings.

    But your latest statement, where you justify the emergency, is shocking and can only serve to remove what little remaining credibility you have.

    It boggles the mind to hear you, the Health director-general, say that a health war needs to be fought armed by an emergency. That is the height of imbecility I would expect from one of the political idiots who we unfortunately have aplenty.

    I would not have batted an eyelid had such a warm excuse been laid forth by your own minister or even the prime minister when he deigns to enter the public realm.

    Are you really suggesting that the deployment of medical personnel, equipment, and supplies require an emergency complete with the suspension of Parliament? Are the existing laws of the country, the relevant authorities, and the Health Ministry so impotent as to be unable to fight the virus?

    I simply cannot believe you imply that private sector medical resources in Malaysia orbit in an astral plane of its own and only an emergency can bring them to heel.

    How is the rest of the world coping with the onslaught even if with varying levels of success? Going by your logic of unified forces, wouldn’t active participation of Parliament with its numerous able minds help to offer more formidable response?

    Unless there was a gun held to your head, this latest inane statement from you would surely be one of the worst efforts at self-destruction we have witnessed lately.

    I am sorry, sir, but I have to tender my resignation from your fan club.
    UNQUOTE

    ReplyDelete
  5. More feedback for Tan Sri Noor Hisham, who at one time was our hero, then politicians got in the way, now he is our zero.

    QUOTE
    Bewise: I do not hear of other countries resorting to forcing doctors from private sectors to work in public hospitals in the name of emergency. You could request for help or they could volunteer.

    This happened in Singapore. The private hospitals opened up their wards for the less serious cases, enabling the public hospitals to focus on the more serious ones. They shared their knowledge and cooperated well. They offered their services. There was no arm twisting.

    Why don’t you just say you were too proud to admit that the whole system had failed, and ask the private hospitals nicely for assistance?

    ----

    Caripasal: DG, why did you break a butterfly upon a wheel? An emergency is not required to implement those measures that you mentioned to fight Covid-19. It can be achieved with a motion in Parliament.

    It is disgusting to see a wise doctor ‘kowtow’ (bow) to the despicable politicians to justify the use of emergency.
    UNQUOTE

    ReplyDelete
  6. thaya dun tokkok, ph hv no more role in the pendemic the moment they r out of the federal govt, its the action not the tok that is accountable, but i fully understand yr type, always tok n judge base on tok.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Typical Formosa sophism of the nth order!

      Farts cloaking from a 犬养mfer - do what I say can't do what I do.

      Delete
    2. stalker with no mind, in ccpland we call it zombie wakaka.

      Delete
    3. Wakakakakaka…

      "in ccpland we call it zombie"

      Wow!!!

      南魔萬 England on parade AGAIN!

      In Formosa, stalker with no mind us known as 犬养mfering katak!

      Delete