OCT 28 — Malaysia is now in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the number of new infections confirmed daily rising to over 1,000 on some days.
The main cause of this sharp rise in daily Covid-19 infections has been clearly identified as reckless human-to-human contact during last month’s campaigning for the Sabah state election and we’re still paying the price come two months later.
It’s crazy to realise the Health Ministry was reporting single digit new Covid-19 cases daily here back in August. The last time this happened was on September 6 with six new Covid-19 cases, with an overall total of 9,397 infections and a 97per cent recovery rate.
Right now, the nation’s Covid-19 infections total has tripled within weeks and is fast racing towards 30,000. It only makes sense to focus on containing this rapid pandemic spread, but our political leaders are up to their shenanigans instead to force a change in government!
If our politicians haven’t learnt from mistakes made during Sabah’s state election, just take a look down south at Singapore’s hubris in holding a general election on July 10 on the assumption its Covid-19 outbreak was well-contained at foreign worker dormitories.
The subsequent rise in Singapore’s Covid-19 infections, spiking a month later at 908 on Aug 6 and touching single digit cases of eight only on September 2, starkly shows how wrong politicians often are. And the common people are the ones who end up paying the price!
Dewan Rakyat proceedings are set to resume on Nov 2 and many politicians are baying for a ‘no confidence’ vote against the current government leadership. They’re also threatening to shoot down Budget 2021 to force the same outcome to trigger a general election.
We’ll only find out in a few days if these same slippery politicians have actually backed down from their threats, as they have claimed in response to the Agong’s warning on Sunday; for a full stop to endless politicking so that a national emergency remains unnecessary.
The Agong’s words are especially significant, for he’s speaking on behalf of all state rulers who had met to discuss the need for a national emergency declaration, but decided not to.
Comptroller of the Royal Household Datuk Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin said His Majesty stressed that it was very important for the government and the authorities, especially the frontliners, to continue implementing policies and making efforts to curb the threats of the pandemic.
“Al-Sultan Abdullah also called on the MPs to heed the royal advice to immediately stop the politicking and to give priority to the people’s wellbeing so that Budget 2021 could be passed without any disruption.”
“His Majesty also reminded the MPs that engaging themselves in political disputes for personal interest will only bring harm to the country and the people, especially when the country is still struggling to face the threats of Covid-19.”
And to emphasise his advice, the Agong had also said: “His Majesty feels that the government at present has managed to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic well and effectively. His Majesty much believes in the government’s capability under the leadership of the Prime Minister to continue implementing policies and enforcement actions to curb the spread of Covid-19.”
And if this august advice isn’t meaningful enough, the key person driving the nation’s effort to contain the Covid-19 pandemic has also advised against holding a general election.
Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said hard lessons had been learnt from Sabah’s state election. “We hope we don’t need to repeat the consequences of an election in other states.”
Noting that the Health Ministry can only give recommendations, he advised that if a general election does need to be held as required by the Constitution, there should be no cross-border and no cross-district travel, and no ‘balik kampung’ for the election.
He also strongly advised against mass gatherings or ceramah or house-to-house visits by politicians and supporters, wondering aloud “whether we can implement the use of postal votes and so on”.
Clear minds have spoken out against forcing any change now in the government or at worse, another general election. Otherwise, Malaysia’s total number of Covid-19 cases will definitely overtake Singapore’s total of around 58,000 now.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
