THE Covid-19 pandemic was better managed last year without placing the country under a state of emergency compared with this year, Najib Razak said.

The former prime minister posted on Facebook that the coronavirus outbreak was brought under control after about one-and-a-half months of the movement control order (MCO) in March last year.

Parliament was not suspended either, and no state of emergency was in place.

“The MCO was implemented strictly. The government managed to flatten the curve and bring down the local Covid-19 cases to zero,” Najib wrote.

“The people could return to their routine under the new normal and interstate travel was allowed for tourism.

“But under the emergency in 2021, the Covid-19 situation has become worse after three-and-a-half months in all aspects.

“The emergency was declared on the pretext of wanting to curb Covid-19 and bringing the numbers down to double digits so the people could ‘balik kampung’ for Hari Raya. 

“But now, they will not be allowed to travel as there are more Covid-19 cases. Do you see the difference?”

Covid-19 cases have exceeded 2,000 daily in the past week, three-and-a-half months after the state of emergency was declared nationwide.

Najib also said the government had taken “half-baked” measures that made the situation worse, such as allowing factories and construction sites to continue operating even though these sectors contributed the highest number of Covid-19 clusters.

The emergency has affected the economy and foreign investor confidence, he said, and the government had to dip into the National Trust Fund as it had no money left. – April 24, 2021.