DECEMBER 15 — Quoting our Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah as reported in Malay Mail on December 14 “So we are still in a war against Covid-19. Our war has not yet ended….” I am left wondering is it really a war against Covid or against ordinary Malaysians?
All I see is a ruling government flexing its muscles to impose their brand of repressive, oppressive and suppressive authority to show us ordinary folks who is the Boss in power. And as I wrote to my MP, this is downright repulsive.
I am not an activist, I am just an ageing 61-year-old widow, a Malaysian citizen who has voted at every election according to personal conscience. I have believed, hoped and prayed that every time a new bunch of people rise up to take over the reins, they will execute their responsibilities to nation and rakyat, according to their good conscience and principles of righteousness, equality and justice for all who live in this beloved country where I was born and (most probably) will die.
I have no stomach for the politics of the day. But there comes a time when enough is enough. I do not know what the government is up to or trying to prove. Back in 2021 it was the Malaysian government itself that took action to revoke the Covid-19 emergency ordinances, which at that time PMO declared were in line with the country’s laws and Constitution. And today, we have Act 342 which seeks to prescribe even more stringent regulations than those made under the Emergency Ordinances.
To quote again from Malay Mail report on December 14, from Dr Noor Hisham, “And the provisions under the EO were found to be effective and helpful in our Covid-19 infectious disease control measures. That is when we were using the EO, we had made amendments so that the Act or rules that we have, can help in controlling the spread of the disease, and to date, God willing we could use the EO well, to control the spread of Covid-19.” Really? Where is the proof of “effectiveness” in controlling Covid? In fact, it ran real wild just recently. Please do not make covid-19 an excuse for everything under the sun. Besides I am sure God has many more ingenious ideas to deal with covid-19 than using EOs this way. Just saying.
Apparently there’s a presumption of guilt provision in Act 342 that puts the burden on companies to “prove” they are innocent of any breach. Plus horror of horrors, I can be dragged off to “undergo isolation or surveillance” wherever on just some officer’s “suspicion” that I have an infectious disease? So, are they going to use my tax money to set up Covid-detention camps next? I have long since retired from legal practice, but surely these are downright draconian proposals that run against every rule of natural justice. I seriously question the thinking process of our so-called experts — the medical, legal or political brains put together — who drafted Act 342.
Or perhaps they actually didn’t think much at all. Today I have written to my MP, to please vote NO to Act 342, in all good conscience to man and God.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
