DIRECTOR-GENERAL of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah made an impassioned plea last week to all Malaysians who have no business outside to stay home.

This was against the backdrop of skyrocketing Covid-19 cases that have increased exponentially, from just a single case and a “green zone” Malaysia on August 4 last year,  to a whopping 4,029 cases five months later, and practically all big cities and districts in the peninsula are now listed as “red”.

We were doing such a great job, even leading countries like the US and the UK and our neighbour Singapore, on par with handling the virus as Korea or Japan, so we had our own good example to learn from, the mistakes of so many other nations, and a pretty long period of respite. So, what went wrong?

Perhaps apathy, perhaps pandemic fatigue. Or could it be a lack of economic resources or over-confidence? Or even mistakes in strategy or its execution? Or lack of political will?

Maybe even all of the above, in equal measure.

As the pandemic rages on, so has our political bickering.  The focus seemed to be on keeping some people in or out of power, rather than having the best people for the job.

Our king stepped in to declare an emergency upon the advice of the government. This may not be the step favoured by many, but it offers a chance for respite that should be taken.

The experiences of such people as former health minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad and former finance minister Daim Zainuddin would certainly come in handy in managing the health and economic implications.

Public health NGOs, economic academics and experienced economic titans should be roped in as well, to avoid embarrassing and costly flip-flops, on which industry remains open and how tight should measures be.

Steps should be level-headed and even-handed. Keeping industries that have caused the spike open with little sanction or corrective action is a disaster waiting to happen, and in the case of one manufacturer, waiting to happen a third time.

Conditions imposed should take citizens’ safety and economic survival into account, not bowing to lobbyists or pressure groups or allowing everything open in the name of the economy. That defeats the purpose of a lockdown, and prolongs the misery of those most affected by it, i.e., the small businesses and B40.

It is most unfair that a large jeweller be allowed open when taxi drivers are home-bound on account of no one moving about, or for large supermarkets who can afford expensive logistics to be allowed to operate with little limit when mom-and-pop hawkers cannot get more than one child to help carry wares to their stalls. Nor does it make sense, as smallholders tend to be from the same household while casual workers don’t.

The rakyat would be happier to play their role if politicians governing them showed better example.

We have had time to equip ourselves, like prepare MySejahtera not only for the spike in load but for better functionality. Not only could the new blacklist feature be activated sooner, geo-fencing for 10km radius based on registered address could also be introduced to ease the authorities in keeping movement control.

Patient tags could be inserted with inexpensive programmable chips for even more effective tracking, should the need arise.

Engaging private hospitals could have been done sooner, but better now than never. Private practitioners are competent and could be utilised to offload the burden on government hospitals, especially on those covered by employment or insurance coverage, similar to other chronic illnesses or emergencies.

Government focus should not only be on handling the present crisis but on anticipating and mitigating new problems and strategising new plans.

It would be great to see Health Minister Adham Baba and his deputies, who have been far away from the limelight in pandemic management, strategy execution, economic management or even development of our vaccine strategy, but their leadership so far has proven quite disappointing.

This is not the burden of the government alone, and with lethargy and fatigue setting in, it is time for those at the back to step up to the frontline. – January 20, 2021.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.