THE government’s lack of direction and dysfunctional character are evident in its ineffective response to the Covid-19 pandemic, said Daim Zainuddin.

In an interview with FMT published today, the elder statesman said it was clear that “every ministry seems to be working in silos” in the nearly year-old government.

“The people have yet to see even one example of a concerted multi-ministerial effort to fight the pandemic apart from the presence of some military personnel at roadblocks,” Daim was quoted as saying.

He said the pupils’ lack of IT access for virtual classes was an example of the government’s failure in coordination.

“Why are the ministry and agencies in charge of communications and multimedia not sitting down with the Education Ministry to see how they can resolve connection issues for students being forced to study online?

“Students feel abandoned by this government, and rightly so,” said the man who headed the Council of Eminent Persons under the former Pakatan Harapan government.

He said the Muhyiddin Yassin government had left the people feeling helpless and abandoned, noting that most of the ministers had been silent on the roles of their respective ministries roles in battling the health crisis.

“People are no longer glued to their TV sets waiting for the evening press conferences. No one is listening to the ever-changing SOPs or the unhelpful regurgitating of numbers of infections or names of clusters.

“Those who do speak only serve to pour even more confusion and worsen an already dire situation.”

Daim also slammed the government’s decision to reduce ministers’ quarantine period to three days, saying it was not based on science.

This is after ministers returning from overseas were allowed to quarantine for only three days instead of the mandatory 10 days.

The government has said the same privilege could also be extended to businessmen.

“Where is the scientific backing for this decision? All that the people see are double standards in enforcement,” said the former finance minister.

He added that Malaysians were tired of the politicking and had stopped following political developments.

“Regardless, people have voiced their hope that the emergency will end before August 1,” he said.

“They want parliament and the state assemblies to sit and for elected representatives to be able to do the jobs they were constitutionally voted in to do.” – February 15, 2021.