HERE we are again at the start of yet another MCO, if the rumours are true. Like in the previous times, the rumours are many as to its exact scope and nature, and equally aplenty, the denials from the powers-that-be on the veracity of those rumours.  

Depending on who you ask, we are seeing the third, fourth or fifth wave of the Covid outbreak.

By all accounts, cases have not receded since a sharp spike in November last year, which peaked with 5,728 cases on January 30. Daily we have hovered around the 2500-3500 mark with an upward trajectory  since mid-April.

The situation has been somewhat exacerbated by an unexpectedly slow vaccine rollout, flip-flopping on health and safety SOPs and news of celebrities given leeway in compliance while random citizens get exorbitant summonses for what appear to be trivial offences. 

Very little about what we are doing to tackle the virus makes sense.  

What should have been the catalyst for online learning and digitalisation of the education sector instead became a fiasco as promised notebooks never made it to students, teachers reported lack of funds to purchase sanitisers and other items for their classes, and parents expressed their disappointment over the lack of infection preventive measures and the constantly changing rules, which possibly contributed to the more than 100 clusters in the schools and thousands of infected students, parents and teachers.

For every case reported in the news, many more are in self-quarantine. Departments, companies and schools are closed down. This is hardly just an inconvenience; it is expensive and costs productivity as well. 

The non-uniform nature of it all just makes it worse. Some places are shut down for days for sanitisation while others just hours. With no clear SOP to fall back on, this is not unexpected but still nonsensical. 

Scores of schools open and close, causing parents to rush up and down and make arrangements for their kids, itself opening up vectors for Covid-19 virus to spread.  

We are promised closed borders to keep us safe while we restrict our own movements yet we hear daily of, new, more virulent and deadlier strains being found that appear to have been imported, despite repeated assurances that our borders are restricted and safe.  

Prolonging the high pandemic number also directly affects many other areas of health. Hospitals are not only running out of space to place these patients, prioritising means other patients are denied slots otherwise allocated to them, elective and non-critical surgeries and treatment are put on hold, and geriatric and high-risk patients would avoid visiting clinics and hospitals, potentially impacting the quality of their health.

Resources that could otherwise be spent on, among others, education and awareness are used up managing the unending stream of Covid-19 patients. 

Against this chaotic backdrop, we see politicians who argue against political activity in favour of emergency powers, continue politicking in every manner and form other than in a legislative chamber, arguably the job they are hired to do and the only duty that matters to the taxpayer.  

Apart from counting the numbers, the numbers need to count. The sacrifices of 33 million Malaysians – economic, social, communal, and legislative and many others, should not be taken for granted or treated wantonly.  

The government needs to live up to its promise to save Malaysia from what was supposed to be a less competent government, which does not look very promising at the moment. 

It needs to be firm, update its SOPs in tandem and uniform, in line with the latest knowledge on the virus, and apply the law put in by themselves, in an even-handed and fair way.  

Stop giving the people reasons to not abide by regulations by starting to behave like the fair, people-centric and competent government it claims to be.  – May 5, 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.