Consult the professionals at the Ministry of Health before making any rash decisions, urges Jeyakumar Devaraj.
The coronavirus situation in our country is at a critical stage.
The mass religious gatherings involving thousands of devotees in Sri Petaling and in Batu Ferringhi should not have taken place at this time. A huge spike of cases has already begun emanating from the former event.
Given this, the two-week movement control order announced by the prime minister on Monday, 16 March was quite timely and entirely appropriate.
We need to cut transmissions, identify and treat those infected and quarantine the contacts. These measures will help contain the epidemic.
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Wuhan limited the total number infected to about 80,000 which is less than 0.14% of Wuhan’s 60 million population. This despite the fact that when the epidemic started, they had no clue what was going on.
We, being forewarned, should be able to do better than that, and until the Sri Petaling event were doing very well by global standards.
So the movement control order is appropriate. However several of the measures implemented by the National Security Council (NSC) yesterday undermined the purpose of the order.
The inspector general of police made a televised statement on the evening of 17 March that all interstate travel from the next day would require a certificate from the police. That led to masses of people crowding at various police stations in several cities trying to acquire these certificates.
The point of the movement control order is to reduce the amount of inter-mingling of the population. The way the police handled it shows that they were “blur” about the main aim of the order and that they had not thought through the whole process.
The advice to students of tertiary institutions to vacate their campuses was another unnecessary misstep. The whole point of the movement restriction order is to get people to stay put and not go out and mix with others, some of whom might be infected though not yet symptomatic.
Pushing half a million students out of hostels resulted in crowds in bus and train terminals and a lot of mingling. The epidemic is now centred in the Klang Valley. But the enforced dispersal of varsity students to their home towns is likely to take the epidemic to all parts of the country.
Suspension of classes was necessary to prevent transmission. But students should have been advised to stay put in their dorms, and measures should have been taken to ensure their meals were taken care of. We cannot afford mistakes of this magnitude at this point in the epidemic.
The failure of the NSC to invite five state governments to its meeting is another huge disappointment for the Rakyat (people).
We are facing a serious epidemic that has overwhelmed the healthcare systems of several other countries. We are racing against time to contain the epidemic in Malaysia.
This is no time for petty politicking! We all need to work together. The Rakyat are prepared to follow your leadership. The NSC needs to bring the nation together by handling all issues in a mature, rational and well-informed manner.
The prime minister said that the NSC is overseeing the entire coronavirus containment exercise. We appreciate the fact that the PM himself is chairing the NSC.
Our advice to the NSC is to consult the health professionals before making any major decisions. Discuss the measures being considered with a technical committee comprising epidemiologists, public health specialists and sociologists in the Ministry of Health before announcing them.
Anti-epidemic measures cannot be carried out by trial and error – for each error will promote the transmission of the infection to more people, and that will cost us dearly as a society.
So please, NSC, get your act together, and consult before making any more rash decisions.
AGENDA RAKYAT - Lima perkara utama
- Tegakkan maruah serta kualiti kehidupan rakyat
- Galakkan pembangunan saksama, lestari serta tangani krisis alam sekitar
- Raikan kerencaman dan keterangkuman
- Selamatkan demokrasi dan angkatkan keluhuran undang-undang
- Lawan rasuah dan kronisme
Well, Malaysian authorities are well known for knee jerk reactions. They are obviously still stuck in that rut and can’t think out of the box. And this is the generation which is the product of our broken education system. Break the schools and you break the nation. We’re seeing the results of the broken education system in full bloom today. Will the Education Ministry please wake up and restore our education system to what it was in the 1950’s and 60’s.
Many Malaysians are at risk because they are diabetic; the food that they are stocking up on are all highlyprocessed foods – basic SUBSIDISED items like (white rice), oil and sugar – are all sickness-causing. People are also being told to ‘hide’ at home, avoid the Sun. When Vit D is such a vital vitamin to boost immune system. The best thing people can do is to FAST…
coconut water, fresh local fruit, plain water and as much ulams (leafy greens like bayam, kangkong – superfoods). And walk out to NATURE – to beach or forest or nearest park.
Betty L Khoo-Kingsley, author: Cancer Cured & Prevented Naturally(2007-2009) all sold out.
Talking about petty politicking, please do something to stop ex-ministers and ex-deputy ministers from saying they would have done this or that if they were still holding their jobs. Everyone’s effort should now be concentrated on supporting the government to implement the measures fully to join in the great battle against an invisible enemy measuring 0.0001 mm across. Many ordinary citizens have members of their families on the front lines in the medical services, or still going to work in industries providing essential services. Cheap political potshots irritate them. If you can’t help, don’t hinder.