COMMENT BY YB PROF DR P.RAMASAMY, DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER II, PENANG
Ministers should not make Malaysians as sacrificial lambs. An illegal backdoor government is a desperate one. Its ministers are at best inefficient and at worst are bunch of clowns.
The Covid-19 pandemic despite its hardship and misery on Malaysians, it has succeeded in exposing the hollowness of the government in power. There are many instances of ministers rendering themselves as totally inept in not only managing the crises but simply lacking the understanding and insight to articulate on matters relating to the pandemic.
Much earlier we had a minister who confidently stated that the Covid-19 virus could be washed down and eliminated by drinking warm water.
There are many other examples of ministers and senior officials who have erred or embarrassed themselves about the government’s efforts in managing the pandemic.
Not to be undone, the Minister of Federal Territories Annuar Musa has come to fore to give commentary about the pandemic situation in the country.
In a forum organised by the Harakah Daily, a PAS linked publication, Annuar said that pandemic seems not as bad as it has been projected.
Since ordinary Malaysians are acting as though no pandemic exists, then the government must have done a good job in controlling its spread. He continued by saying that people are not scared, not willing to follow the rules and even not thinking of protecting themselves.
These signs indicate that the government had done a good job to the extent people are not willing to be restricted. In comparison, he said that Malaysia had done a better job in controlling the pandemic even in comparison to countries like the UK and the USA, countries that are technologically advanced.
I am not sure where Annuar obtained his figures was bold enough to say that an average of one million Malaysians were getting vaccinated daily.There is hardly any differences between the various ministers in the cabinet of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the chief architect of the “Sheraton Move”.
What was said by Annuar was not only preposterous but a downright insult to Malaysians trying their level best to contain the pandemic. Annuar’s broad and simplistic sweep ignores the extreme difficulties faced by ordinary Malaysians in fighting the pandemic.
It makes a mockery of the sacrifice, the deaths, the suffering of patients, the job losses and the effects on families.
When people facing the imminence of hospitalisation and deaths in hospitals, how could a responsible minister say that people are not scared of the pandemic. The present situation is one of life and death, but Annuar thinks and acts as though people in the country do not care of the pandemic.
I don’t the government is doing a good job even with the stretch of imagination. I don’t think it takes rocket science to come to the conclusion. Is it a bluff by Annuar that an average of one million people are getting vaccinated daily.
Where did he get this figure?
If this is the case, Malaysians do not have to wait until October this year to reach a herd immunity with 80 percent of the population vaccinated. Blindly supporting the government is one thing, but giving wrong and unimaginable figures is another.
Annuar should not compare apples with oranges, but apples to apples. In this respect, Malaysia is no way comparable to the advanced countries in managing and controlling the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Malaysia, the supply is active, far short of the demand. This is not the case with UK or USA.
There is nothing to be proud of the performance of the ministers under the PN government. They have failed and continue to fail.
However, the miserable performance of the ministers should not be used to make Malaysians as the sacrificial lambs.
