TODAY’S announcement on a state of emergency was rather unexpected. How did we even get here? It also brings up some interesting questions, primarily about timing, sincerity and honesty of the prime minister and by association, his whole government.

According to the press release issued by Istana Negara this morning, the prime minister met with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong yesterday at 5.30pm and the meeting lasted for 45 minutes. But hang on, wasn’t the prime minister live on television at 6pm?

Yes, it could have been pre-recorded but the fact of the matter is that the broadcast was touted as being a live telecast. That, at least, is what the graphic posted on the PM’s very own Facebook account touted.

Or does the PM have a different understanding of live telecast?

So was the rakyat lied to? Why come out with a movement-control order (MCO) while you are requesting for a state of emergency to be declared and pretend it is a live telecast? Was this all a mass charade on the part of the government? It just doesn’t seem right.

The prime minister’s speech this morning explained the reasoning behind the emergency declaration. However, it reeked of contradiction. Case in point is where he stated the reasoning to not allow elections during the Covid-19 pandemic was in line with his duty to protect the people. He even alluded to religious doctrine to justify this. However, none of this was taken into account during the Sabah elections and it seems to be the case that the state polls was one of the causes for the spike in Covid-19 cases – especially when things were seemingly under control.

This was further exacerbated when the government neglected to enforce quarantine on those returning from Sabah and could even justify their reasons for not doing so.

Muhyiddin went on to advise politicians to put aside their differences and stand in solidarity with the rakyat. Is this not what politicians are supposed to do anyway? Was it not political leverage, the hunger for power and disregard for the people’s mandate that saw the present government take control in the first place?

Even the handling of the the pandemic in recent months seems to be rather ill thought off and lacking cognisance. Surely the opening up of interstate travel while numbers were spiking was an ill thought out affair.

And here we are now, justifying the reason for needing a state of emergency.

This is what I mean by contradiction and perhaps even hypocrisy.

Muhyiddin then went on to talk about the commitment of the government to ensure economic activities would carry on subject to the standard operating procedure. But where is the SOP? We were told on Friday to expect an announcement the following Monday of the government’s plans to arrest the Covid-19 pandemic.

True enough, the MCO was announced yesterday for six states and that only five essential economic sectors would be allowed to operate – manufacturing; construction; service; trade and distribution; and plantations and commodities. What exactly falls under services?

We were told that the International Trade and Industry Ministry and the Public Works Department would detail out the different services classified under essential economic sectors. What? Could this not be made available during or immediately after the MCO announcement? You had the whole weekend to prepare the SOP. It’s not as if it is something new either as we have been going through different forms of SOP the whole year. Do the relevant ministries and departments not work in concert? Or is it simply a case of the right hand not knowing what the left is doing? Or perhaps it is just sheer incompetence?

Has anyone considered how companies are supposed to plan and operate without the SOP being issued? For that matter, there are so many questions the public are still being kept in the dark about. As an example, are Grab transport services still allowed to operate? Will public transport still be available? What about laundromats and barbers, or plumbing and home electrical services, just to name a few? Supermarkets and food outlets for takeaways are allowed to operate.

What about retail though? Banks will operate but what about the Employees’ Provident Fund? If someone has an appointment at EPF, will they still be allowed to go? What about hospital appointments? What exactly can and cannot be done? So many questions and there does not seem to be many answers forthcoming. At least not in a timely fashion anyway. You see, without clear and concise guidelines, the rakyat is being made to second guess and we all know how that has turned out before.

It has been almost a year since the first MCO and we have gone through so many variations of it. Surely the government would be better equipped to handle this in a more detailed and timely fashion. Surely they should have learnt from the mistakes of the past and put in plans to avoid repeating the same mistakes. There doesn’t seem to be much clarity or cohesiveness in the way decisions are being made and we seem to keep going round and round in circles. We are told each time that the MCO, conditional MCO, recovery MCO or whatever acronym seems to be working but here we are now in a state of emergency.

With Parliament not sitting and no elections until the emergency is lifted, the present government is assured of staying in power. Even when their majority is in question.

One also needs to seriously consider the timing of the state of emergency. Why televise a declaration of an MCO when you are at that exact moment in audience with the king? Why not let the MCO take its course first instead of declaring a state of emergency the very next day?

On the surface it appears our politicians are merely self-serving and more interested in their own wellbeing rather than looking after the needs of the rakyat. One can only hope this is not true. Sadly though, the way things are being handled does not lead to much confidence but just leaves a sour taste in the mouth. – January 12, 2021.

* Dharm Navaratnam reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.