By Manjit Singh
THE first COVID-19 case was recorded in Malaysia in December 2019. During this time until February 23, 2020, the total number of cases was at 26 throughout the country.
Many remember the political coup ‘Sheraton Move’ on February 23, 2020. It was believed that this power grab was masterminded by Umno, PAS, Parti Pribumi Bersatu’s Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and a faction aligned to him in PKR.
On March 1, 2020, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Government fell and was cleverly taken over by a backdoor government in a coalition known now as National Alliance (Perikatan Nasional).
On March 18, 2020, the first movement control order (MCO 1.0) was initiated. Things were not easy (they still aren’t) as the pandemic has affected people’s livelihoods in a grave manner.
But people persisted, and for a short while, it seemed that Malaysia was winning, having managed to achieve zero cases, three days in a row in July 2020.
The power struggle of selfish politicians again caused the state election in Sabah to be held on September 26, 2020 whereby the state recorded 1,323 cases.
If the politicians were sincere in curbing this deadly pandemic, the state election should have been postponed. But sadly, this never happened and the state election went ahead as planned.
During this time, many Sabahans from all over Malaysia travelled back to Sabah to fulfil their responsibility to vote.
Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob previously mentioned that those returning from the Sabah state election were not required to quarantine for 14 days. Instead, the quarantine period was set at 3 days.
With the escalating number of cases in Sabah, why did Ismail Sabri set a three-day quarantine period?
One month after the Sabah state election, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country shot up, and the worst hit state was Sabah itself with 11,285 cases.
Today, history is repeating itself.
Umno, being one of the main culprits in bringing down the previous PH Government, is today trying to do the same thing again by pulling out their support for Prime Minister Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin whom they unanimously supported to be the eighth prime minister.
One would wonder how sincere Umno really is in helping the people, or are they just bitter about losing their previous election in 2018. In the recent speech by Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, he stated that the current PM has failed the people’s aspirations.
But please be aware that ironically, there are nine Umno members in the current Cabinet. Saying that the current PN Government has failed is equivalent to Zahid strongly implying that Umno and PAS have failed too.
While citizens and businesses are in dire need of help, most of the politicians are busy with power grabbing. There are even some politicians who are daring enough to nominate themselves as the next PM. Have they forgotten that Malaysia is a democracy-based system?
To make things worse, people are losing their jobs, with some unable to afford something as basic as food and a roof over their heads due to companies closing down or trimming their workforces to cover their losses.
Due to the lockdown, children in Malaysia are missing out on proper education and arguably, they are being robbed of a proper childhood.
Also, it has come to our attention that a particular MP has recently sent his young son overseas to study. Is this MP even aware that the quality of the Malaysian education has dropped and that the same education system is being forced upon our innocent children?
The Government recently announced that they will remain committed to the six-phase Economic Recovery Plan (6Rs) that was put in place last year. Presently we are in full MCO 3.0 and what has changed, considering that we are still in Phase 1 of the Recovery Plan?
Ordinary Malaysians have been doing their parts by complying with the SOPs, and strangely, the number of COVID-19 cases are still on the rise. This has prompted people to start wondering about the logic behind MCO 3.0 in the first place!
And so we ask the Government: what is yourt actual economic recovery plan to flatten the COVID-19 curve? Please, explain this to us in a consistent and logical manner and not by implementing vague, contradictory directives and requirements in dealing with the pandemic.
Last but not least, to all politicians, Malaysians are on their knees begging you to stop playing politics and buck up, or be prepared to frace the wrath of the people in the next general election (GE15).
Now is really not the time for you to put your political agendas ahead of the people’s needs, so please, put on your thinking caps as credible leaders during this most difficult time.
We have been tolerant so far and have adhered to all the COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs). Please focus all of your attention on the wellbeing and the future of the rakyat. – July 13, 2021.
Manjit Singh is Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) Information Chief (Wilayah).
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Photo credit: iStock
