WITH daily infections hovering between 3,000 and 5,000, and after blunder after blunder with MCO SOP and extension after extension of the deadline, it is fast becoming clear that Covid-19 is beyond the capability of the Health Ministry to handle alone.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, in approving the emergency request by the government, announced the setting up of an advisory council to advise his royal highness on the pandemic.

The government has so far announced a vaccination portfolio helmed by Science and Technology Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. Again, the health minister’s role in all this appears fuzzy. Surely it is not up to director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah alone.

The private-public hospital plan, managing frontliner infections (which number over 4,000) and their welfare, as well as other accompanying health issues with the pandemic like chronic disease management, mental health management and dietary advisories also needs attention.

Against the backdrop of a flurry of pandemic busting activity, Khairy stands out as a competent and performing minister, perhaps compared to the relative obscurity of his cabinet counterparts, at least where vaccination strategy is concerned. Agencies under his ministry, however, seem less so.

By now, a year into the pandemic, MySejahtera has yet to adopt suggested strategies in becoming a ring-fencing tool to bar users out of their 10km boundary or to proactively warn users of hotspots nearby.

On the contrary, there are reports of the app being slow in marking infection status of Covid patients.

Technology has yet to be fully harnessed, not only in managing the pandemic directly, but enabling commerce and empowering SMEs to migrate from brick-and-mortar stores into online fronts, and adopt “e”, “m” or even “q” (quick) commerce.

Instead of idling, ministries should use this opportunity and lull to upgrade the ageing system and improve their delivery system. What better time to relook passports when no one is applying for them?

Where technology is used and harnessed, we see some systems at breakpoint, such as parcel delivery services, with deliveries being delayed, offering perhaps a problem to be solved, and with it, business opportunities, at a time they are scarce and welcome.

Flip-flop decisions on education are not only troublesome for students, it will affect them on the long term and after spending much time as the opposition slamming black shoes and vernacular schools, surely the new ruling party should already be talking to local and foreign institutions and working with various parties to get computers and internet access to pupils who need it. Have they not learned from Veveonah?

With an overwhelming majority of cases coming from the workplace, the relative silence of the Human Resources Ministry is surprising.

Workplace infection needs to be managed and the SOP figured out and enforced. Clearly, something is not working right if you keep tightening the SOP, but with 90% of daily clusters coming from this area, it isn’t working.

Spot checks and fines should be the purview of this ministry, as is ensuring hostels and dormitories are well spaced, taking a leaf out of Singapore’s experience.

The workforce equilibrium also needs to be managed. Low hanging fruits would include job losses in the aviation and tourism sectors, but the increased need for delivery staff and restaurant helpers. Some factories may have laid off employees, but others are aggressively hiring.

Placement services as well as counselling and relevant retraining is what’s needed, rather than general training allowance programmes and “reskilling” in dying industries.  

Housing too, is a major issue, with many people unable to pay rent. Some form of rent control and regulation is needed, as with arbitration and credit advice by agencies under the MOF like AKPK.

It would be dangerous to rely on the private sector to normalise these themselves, as it provides for a carte blanche opportunity to profiteer or take advantage of market vulnerabilities which could risk further instability.

An emergency has been declared, granting the executive vast powers, and to their credit, the opposition have been mostly subdued in politics. The government has had the strongest tools at its disposal to manage this effectively, but it needs most of all, sincere political will. – February 10, 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.