PUTRAJAYA needs a new approach to curb the spread of Covid-19 rather than continuously implementing lockdowns and stopping economic activities, Dr Afif Bahardin said today.

The special tasks officer to Mohamed Azmin Ali, who is international trade and industry (Miti) minister, said lockdowns will not completely flatten the pandemic curve.

“We need a new approach. We cannot continuously stop economic activities and not allow people to make a living. 

“At the end of the day, the people’s concern is whether or not they can put food on the table,” he said at a forum on balancing health and the economy, organised by University Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of Ethnic Studies. 

Malaysia has so far implemented three lockdowns, called movement-control orders (MCO). The first was in March last year, MCO 2.0 was in January this year and most the current one, MCO 3.0, began on June 1.

The MCO is now called Phase One under the government’s recently launched National Recovery Plan.

Each MCO has had slight variations in the degree of restrictions in terms of which economic sectors are allowed to operate.

“To me, MCO 2.0, where we allowed all economic sectors to operate while limiting social activities, should be the approach now.

“If I was a small trader, I too, would be angry because I can’t do my business to make a living, yet, factories are allowed to open.

“The people don’t want handouts, but they want to be able to make a living and feed their families,” Afif said.

The Seberang Jaya rep said if the government continues to impose restrictions on which sectors can operate, people will get more frustrated and this will lead to more problems.

“The Health Ministry and the director-general of health need to relook the current strategy as it is not working. I urge them to reach out to other experts for other approaches.”

MySejahtera not effective in tracing infection chain

Afif said the government’s failure in effectively tracing sporadic cases also shows that the MySejahtera app may not be as effective as it was touted to be, and suggested that artificial intelligence should be developed to do so.

But he disagreed with views that the Perikatan Nasional government has failed in its handling of the pandemic, saying this was not the case.

“The government has not failed, it is facing an unprecedented challenge. Frankly speaking, this is the worst time to be in government.

“As lawmakers, we have to make decisions for the betterment of all. We are not here to make everyone happy. If that’s what you want to do, then you should sell ice-cream.

“If you want to be a leader, then you will have to face all the insults hurled at you. Our decisions are not perfect, but still better than other countries.”

He also acknowledged that Malaysia is not only going through a health and economic crisis, but also a political one.

“(But) health and economy must be solved first.”

Currently, only economic sectors deemed essential are allowed to operate. 

Since the start of the pandemic, Putrajaya has announced various economic stimulus packages worth RM530 billion. 

It has also allowed the people to tap into their retirement funds through the i-Sinar, i-Lestari and i-Citra schemes. Cash aid was also given to those in the bottom 40 group. – July 14, 2021.