A STRICT schedule and keeping a sharp mind are the two key ingredients to overcome restlessness and boredom during the ongoing movement-control order (MCO), said Anwar Ibrahim.

Speaking in a live Facebook broadcast last night, the PKR president drew on his experience of being in prison to tell Malaysians on how to handle the MCO.

“I had a strict schedule in Sg Buloh Prison. I made sure to finish a book in two days, memorised Quran chapters in one week and also exercised between 45 minutes to one hour a day so my body will not be weak,” he said.

“My schedule was like this – rise at 5am, read the Quran, perform subuh prayers, simple breakfast, then start reading, then Zuhur prayers, reading again,” added the Port Dickson MP.

He, however, said the MCO is much easier to handle as it allows people to interact and communicate with their families and loved ones.

“It is like home detention now, but we have our family, we can cook, we can communicate, we can do our gardens for a bit, so it is different from the jail,” he said.

Putrajaya had imposed the MCO on March 18 for two weeks, which was then extended to April 14, to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Under the MCO, social gatherings are prohibited and people are not allowed to leave their homes unless it is to purchase essential goods.

Even then, only one person from each family is allowed to travel to buy food within a 10km radius of their home.

All offices of non-essential services have been ordered to close, forcing many to stay indoors.

Anwar was put behind bars on three separate lengthy periods, which totaled to more than 10 years in total.

The first was in 1974 when he was detained under the Internal Security Act for leading student protests against rural poverty and hunger. He spent 20 months in the Kamunting detention centre.

Anwar was then imprisoned in 1999 on sodomy and abuse of power charges, spending five and a half years in prison.

His final stint came when he was jailed in 2015 for sodomy. He was released from prison on May 16, 2018 after receiving a royal pardon. – April 2, 2020.