LETTER | Covid-19 - Time for all to be united and heed govt directives

LETTER | Father Time has come a full circle or so it seems. On May 13, 1969, the country was plunged into racial strife and today May 13, 2021 - 52 years later - the nation celebrates Hari Raya Aidilfitri. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has, however, turned the situation topsy-turvy not only in Malaysia but also worldwide. It is now a global crisis and most nations are facing an unprecedented socio-economic decline that shakes the countries to their roots.

Malaysia has initiated extra-large economic stimulus packages that has somewhat defused the severity of the problems. Some sectors of the economy are performing well especially the export of petroleum, palm oil, rubber and others. Some industries are doing exceptionally well and they balance the losses in other sectors.

The biggest problem is not the pandemic but regrettably the polemics of the day. One sees unending harsh and vituperative criticism of the government in whatever it does. Fault finding has become a national pastime. The government has made some mistakes since taking over from March last year. The Pakatan Harapan administration too made a lot of mistakes in its 22-month rule citing the lack of experience of its ministers. 

Why can't the benefit of the doubt also be given to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's administration? The pandemic is unparalleled and no country except, possibly, China has managed to contain the disease with its rigorous lockdown and continuing with alert and stringent measures. Richer and more experienced countries are finding it difficult to manage the crisis.

A few days  ago I was watching the NDTV channel news and I was surprised to note that Kerala in India, a state that has the same population as Malaysia recorded 38,000 new cases in one day! In Malaysia, the new cases have been hovering around 3,000 to 4,000 a day. One must take note that Kerala was the best managed among the Indian states during the pandemic's initial and continuing phases but it spiralled out of control lately. 

With Covid-19, one cannot take things easy. The left-leaning state government in Kerala did not panic but adopted positive measures together with the cooperation and understanding of the Congress opposition to overcome the problems. With a 100 percent literacy rate and being a socio-economically better off state, Kerala will overcome the crisis and normalcy will soon follow. 

Similarly there is no reason to panic in Malaysia as the government is taking positive and pro-active steps to stop the surge and besides, the vaccination process is in full swing.

There are only two more years before a general election has to be called. It appears that the opposition simply cannot wait to bring a no-confidence motion in Parliament to topple the government. The opposition has also been harping on the emergency. If a snap election has to be called during these perilous times, it could lead to a caretaker government between the dissolution of Parliament, the nomination, election and formation of the new government - a time span of one to two months. 

A caretaker government constitutionally is a weak one and is the opposite of an emergency or wartime government that is endowed with special powers to deal with a crisis. There could be a resurgence of the pandemic during this small window of opportunity for the deadly Covid-19 virus to spread like wildfire and the caretaker government will be ill-equipped to deal with it firmly. 

The opposition should stop its hyper-criticism of the government and allow it to do its duty which it is doing quite well given the constraints. The king has time and again called for all to close ranks and focus on overcoming the pandemic and its consequences.

It will be better for the people to be united for now and the opposition can wait for two years or less and all voters including the 18-year-olds can pick a government of their choice. 

By then the worse of the pandemic would have been overcome by the vaccination drive and the resulting herd immunity. One can then participate in the general election without any guilt feeling about adding to the danger of a resurgence of the pandemic in the country.

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