DECEMBER 2 — It is easy to be caught up in a bubble on social media. We curate and prune until we see only what we want to see and it is easy to forget that bubble is but a clouded lens through which we peer at the rest of the world.
One thing I do to give myself a reality check beyond my own opinions is to search Twitter to see what other people think about current affairs.
Lately I’ve seen people despair about the ever high daily Covid-19 cases, with some even questioning the effectiveness of the semi-lockdown.
“Nak balik kampunglah,” (I want to go back to my hometown) I see some saying, with others chiming in about how they’re restless and want to cross state borders as soon as possible.
The thing is, the daily case numbers aren’t necessarily the best gauge of the situation in Malaysia.
For instance that huge spike thanks to a certain glove manufacturer’s negligence created a skewed picture of things.
It does not change the fact the prime minister admitted that the Sabah election was the primary cause of our high Covid-19 numbers.
What’s missing from his statement is an apology; there is no remorse, no reparation but instead our SOPs keep getting tinkered with to the point many Malaysians are confused and angry.
As much as a certain minister likes crowing about people detained for the most minor of infractions — I wonder how much in fines Malaysia has collected from Covid-19 — our politicians keep demonstrating, time and time again, that SOPs do not apply to them.
How many people, I wonder, have infected politicians in turn spread the virus to? Does it keep them up at night as much as my daily chagrin of reading the headlines does?
The pandemic has me acquiring new hobbies, including shoe collecting, where once I rarely had more than three pairs in rotation. I would be glad to donate them to a shoe flinging competition a la Bush in Iraq.
I am tired. I am tired of many things, and of many people as well as this wretched pandemic. Yet I still believe that limiting my excursions, keeping my mask on and practising self-distancing matters.
I miss my mother but I know the best thing I can do for her is to stay home and eat the food she keeps sending me in care packages.
It takes just one person to infect an entire room; it could take just one visit back to your hometown to likely, intentional or not, harm someone you love.
Malaysians are too lucky, too sheltered, too self-absorbed and insular to understand that as messy as our Covid-19 handling has been it has to a certain extent kept us from death tolls such as Indonesia’s or Iran’s.
Singapore has persevered, despite that period where infections were in the three — to four-digit range and kept deaths to a minimum.
It takes just one slip, one act of carelessness, just one person to start a cluster.
If you care about your loved ones, stay home. For it would just be too sad to be the cause of you never being able to see them again.
Remember this though. Duduk rumah bukan semestinya duduk diam (staying home doesn’t mean you need to stay quiet).
Let’s keep reminding the ones supposedly in charge that they could do better and could have done better by us, because our lives are literally on the line.
Stay safe, Malaysians.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
