COVID-19 – Malaysia, A Sinking Ship Crushed by Prime Minister

Malaysians have suffered 151 days of lockdown initiated by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and yet MCO is not only not showing sign of effectiveness, but the ineffective lockdown is also sinking half of the society into a dire state of poverty.

Did the PM decide what outcome to achieve? Economy or Lives?

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail! ― Benjamin Franklin

In every war or pandemic, we are required to sacrifice certain aspects to ensure the survival of the mass, there is never a fairy tale ending where everyone survives. It is the sacrification for a greater cause.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin should face the reality he is unable to balance both economy and lives. The fact he & his advisors executed this half baked lockdown shows a highly incompetent and unqualified team, unfortunately, is leading Malaysia.

Malaysians are sacrificing unnecessary due to the ineffectiveness of the half baked lockdown. From the looks for the daily chart, we manage to reduce 20-30% cases however new clusters are increasing daily.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that the percentage of workplace-related clusters is continuing to increase despite the recent downward trend of new Covid-19 cases. The total number of workplace-related clusters is more than 1,328 as of 26 June 2021.

Muhyiddin, Digging His Own Grave

While knowing, in reality, the current government team has no proper plan nor the determination to solve the pandemic, Malaysians were even shocked when Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced National Recovery Plan when the Covid-19 cases are sky high and with no anticipation, it would be flattened.

National Recovery Plan

Phase One – Only essential services are allowed to operate while all social sectors and activities are barred.

Phase Two – Several more economic sectors such as the manufacturing industry allowed to operate with up to 80 per cent capacity. Social activities and interstate travel will still not be allowed.

The requirements to move to Phase Two are Covid-19 should drop below 4,000, the public health system should be out of critical stage including the rate of bed use in ICUs returning to moderate levels, and 10 per cent of the population should have received two doses of vaccine injections.

Phase Three – All economic sectors will be allowed to operate barring those listed as high-risk activities such as nightclubs, pubs, conventions, spas, and beauty salons. The requirement is for daily Covid-19 cases to drop below 2,000 cases, for the healthcare system to be at a comfortable load, and at least 40 per cent of the population already inoculated with their second vaccine dose.

However, the announcement made does not come with detailed planning nor backed by scientific data on how do we achieve and worst of all, there is no indication of backup plans. For example, if Malaysia moves to Phase 2 and cases spiked above 4,000 what should we anticipate? Back to Phase 1? Ignore the situation? Nothing concrete nor assuring was mentioned in the announcement.

FMCO = Forever MCO

The main reason Malaysians are baffled about isn’t the recovery plan but the current plans to reduce Covid-19 cases isn’t working nor effective!

For Malaysia to move to Phase 2 we will need to reduce the daily cases to below 4,000 per day.

If 80% Covid clusters originated from factory workers and 80% of factories are allowed to operate during a lockdown, what chance does Malaysia have to flatten the curve? – ZERO

Many Malaysians are disappointed as we foresee Malaysia might not be able to move to Phase 2 with the current arrangement. Currently, the daily cases are hovering around 4,800 to 6,000 per day and with factories continue to operate, the spike of cases in the near future is inevitable since the majority of cases originated from workplace and factories.

So what will happen to Malaysia if the cases remain above 4,000 in Aug and Sep? Forever lockdown? That’s no different than killing 80% of Malaysians who dedicated all their lives building their own humble nest yet to be single-handled destroyed due to incompetency.

Prime Minister, you may be well off but Rakyat have families to feed, children education to save, study loans to be repaid, aspiring entrepreneur dream to achieve, a company with invaluable staffs to protect yet you denied all of them with your stupidity, greed & selfishness.

#TutupKilang

Public discontent on the Government’s way of dealing has prompted netizen to flood the Health Ministry’s & International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali’s Facebook with angry comments urging the federal government to shut down factories, as they have proven to be Covid-19 hotspots.

Malaysians are dying not from Covid but Poverty

Industries Unite (IU) which represents 112 trade organisations and 3.3 million businesses in Malaysia shared a gloomy outlook from its members. The co-founder Datuk David Gurupatham said 80% of their members can no longer sustain themselves and meet their financial obligations as and when they arise. “40% have closed down and a further 20% are likely to close over the next couple of months,”

The World Bank said Malaysia’s underemployment rates in the first quarter were also at a worrying level and an ineffective containment of the outbreak could see Malaysia remain in an ongoing cycle of movement controls, posing a further drag on the economy.

Businesses are folding, more & more Malaysians are struggling to put food on the table, many are facing both physical and mental distress as well as financial ruin.

Tourism, Hospitality, Event & Entertainment Industries left to bleed to death

Despite we have endured 1 year 4 months since MCO 1.0, there is no targeted assistant rendered by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to the most vulnerable industries such as Tourism, Airline, Hospitality and Entertainment.

Many employees in these industries were retrenched or suffering from a 50% pay cut for more than a year. Employers themselves are no longer able to sustain their businesses with depleted reserves and a high level of debt.

Unfortunately, these industries which contributed to the country’s growth and revenue are left to die without any form of assistance from the government. Growth contributor such as Airasia has not even received any assistance in the form of loans from our “caring” government. The same goes for hospitality and tourism industry members who are struggling badly to stay afloat.

To make matter worse, these industries are the last to be allowed to reopen in Phase 4 which earliest estimated to be in November 2021, another 4 to 5 months from now. The long timeline for the recovery plan means more businesses will not be able to survive.

That is if everything went according to plan, however, is there a plan?

Even Vaccination Drive Requires a Plan

Malaysia’s vaccination plan started slowly and disorganized. If vaccination is the key to solve the pandemic, the Government should at least do it correctly!

The current plan of vaccination is severely inadequate and ineffective! The vaccination drive phrase should not be according to age group but according to the highest rate of Covid-19 transmission according to industries.

  1. Healthcare Frontliners
  2. High-Risk Group
  3. Factory workers
  4. High-density workplace

By imposing the mandatory vaccination requirement for factories to operate, it would speed up the vaccination drive. Once factories and high-density workplaces are fully vaccinated, the drop of Covid-19 cases would accelerate automatically. This would lead to a drastic drop in Covid-19 cases and a faster reopening of our economy.

Government Should Help More

  1. Increase the speed of vaccination
  2. Reduction in utility bills, TNB bills, especially commercial rates by 50%.
  3. Automatic Moratorium on Financial Obligations.
  4. Widen the scope and depth of the wages support scheme. The wage subsidy should be at least 30% of the employees’ nett salary while businesses are obliged to pay 40% at least.
  5. Targeted financial support for B40 and M40 especially to severely affected industry such as Tourism, Hospitality, Entertainment & Events.
  6. Targeted and immediate lifting of restrictions on businesses to operate

Muhyiddin Yassin – A Hero to Zero

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had the chance to be glorified as a Hero who guided Malaysia out of Covid-19 when Malaysia recorded 0 cases for several days in June 2020 despite being a traitor who orchestrated the Sheraton Move.

Yet crazily obsessed with power, he decided to wrestle Sabah away with Sabah Election which led to a drastic spike in Covid-19 cases transmitted from Sabah. To make matter worse, the government themselves did not impose quarantine nor upheld SOP which infuriates the Rakyat.

Change Plans Not Change Name!

Infuriated Malaysians are demanding the government impose a strict lockdown similar to MCO 1.0 or just reopen the economy for Rakyat to survive.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin or Ma Hai Din is currently sinking the whole nation along with his own political career.

No businesses could survive 2 years without revenue or assistance. The Rakyat is suffocating from debts, Frontliners are severely worn out while the Government is still enjoying their fairy tale dream.

In the end, Malaysians are the ones who are suffering due to Muhyiddin & Azmin

About Tommy Ooi 509 Articles
Luxury Hotel Reviewer & Destination Blogger. Passionate for travel, exploring new culture & indulging divine food, Tommy has traveled to 42 countries & 140+ destinations.

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