LETTER | Leaders are fully responsible for Covid-19 damage

LETTER | The government is battling the Covid-19 spread in Malaysia in a climate that is still an advantage for the virus.

One, we started a wee bit late in putting in place a movement control order (MCO). Like many other nations, we waited to see if the virus was already in our country .

Two, our MCO was not an instant success. It took the police many days of effort before Malaysians slowly crawled up to register a 90 percent compliance. We even had to enlist the military given the need to widely enforce the order.

Three, the personal protective equipment (PPE) were not immediately available. It took many frustratingly dangerous days - if not weeks before supplies were landing in the country. In the meantime, it took some hospital staff courageous dare to continue serving at risk. And thanks to civil society for responding with homemade improvisation of basic PPE.

Four, even before we can all agree that we have peaked and are surely cascading into a safe trend with the desired R-Naught, the government is already allowing some business services to start operating. And to add gall to the lesion, even barbers are told they can start their business.

Five, while the battle against the virus has yet to be conquered the world over, our government is hardly months old, having had seized power in the wake of a coup executed at a time when the virus was advancing aggressively in the world around us.

Hence the ultimate responsibility of how well or worst we Malaysians will eventually come out of this pandemic is squarely in the court of the new government. 

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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