The Backdoor Gang

COMMENT | Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah's claim that the government does not manipulate or hide Covid-19 statistics is the kind of claptrap that makes this government even less credible than it already is. 

What this government has done is make it impossible to accurately gauge the ravages of this pandemic.

Hospitals are reminding healthcare frontliners not to talk outside school, the state security apparatus is cracking down on healthcare workers for causing mischief when all they are talking about is the dire situation they are in, and of course, politicians from the Perikatan Nasional (PN) regime are busy waging a very public war to retain power.

Nobody has any idea, for instance, what the criteria are for states entering Phase 2 or Phase 3, or whatever fancy term is used to demonstrate that a particular state’s Covid-19 figures are decreasing. 

Or how states which do fulfil certain criteria but experience a resurgence will deal with such numbers, beyond the federal government coming up with on the fly strategies.

And forget about the ravages this pandemic has wrought on the economy. When a high ranking member of the PN government issues a public statement claiming that religion is placed over the economic interests of Malaysians, how exactly can anyone have faith that the government wants to get the economy back on track despite the rosy prognostications of someone like Azmin Ali or the finance minister?

This is why, when the current prime minister says that it is okay to raise the blue flag – the colour of the ruling regime – but not the white and black flags, what we are left with is a prime minister who only seems interested in the self-preservation of his coalition and not the welfare of the people. 

Honestly, the black flag is partisan in substance but the white flag, despite what the government claims, is, in reality, a desperate plea for help.

Mind you, I do not even have much faith in the opposition when it comes to this issue, and I would certainly not believe anything coming out of the Selangor state government. 

Meanwhile, social media is a hotbed of misinformation most of which is peddled by partisans in this political conflict.

Tony Pua made very serious allegations against the Health Ministry when he said: "Health Ministry director-general (Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah) was selective and manipulative with his statistics. When the full MCO was imposed on June 1, the number of cases recorded for June 1 was 7,105. The number for May 31 was 6,824. The average number of cases for the week preceding June 1 was 7,680. It was not 9,020." This points to a cover-up, which seems credible if only because of the contradictory and often farcical statements coming out of the mouths of minions from Putrajaya.

Then we have Selangor Task Force for Covid-19 chairperson Dzulkefly Ahmad reminding us that the MOH had stopped sharing granular data on deaths for the past week, which again points to the reality that the federal government and state governments are not on the same page when it comes to shared information. What does this tell us about how PN is waging this war against Covid-19?

The fact that the MOH admitted some time ago that it was ramping down testing means that any kind of figures coming out of the establishment is suspect. Not to mention, the various gag orders issued to people who have been desperately speaking out on social media.

Furthermore, what we have been witness to, is a government that is not interested in the voices of the frontliners and either deflects or harasses people who are speaking out.

This is why frontliners now have to make all these videos and disseminate them online to get a perspective out there which clashes with official narratives of the PN state.

After a period of docility and puppy love towards the Health DG, voices are already beginning to question the accuracy of the data coming out of the daily pressers and wondering if the government’s policies when it comes to testing and containment are really based on anything beyond the whims of the National Security Council (NSC).

The same goes with the confusing policies set forth by the government and the way how certain industries are allowed to operate. And this being Malaysia, the people are left wondering if there were any financial incentives for certain factories to remain open and the often arbitrary and illogical decisions making process in allowing certain industries to operate.

PSM’s Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, taking to Twitter on reportage that local authorities have the power to close factories, wrote this: “Decentralisation of power is good when the local authorities can be trusted not to abuse it by collecting bribes. Sad to say that in many local authorities 'commissions' will be collected from businesses that don't want to be closed.”

So yes, we first wonder why certain factories are allowed to open and then we wonder why such places are allowed to continue operating. 

In this kind of climate – which is not really the fault of the PN regime, because this is a decades-old problem – can you blame the average rakyat for wondering that if they had the money, the pandemic would play out very differently when it came to their economic interests.

PN repeatedly claims that it has a plan in place to end these lockdowns but the strategy seems to be waiting for a couple of weeks before pulling the trigger on extending any cock-eyed policy they can come up with..

Meanwhile, absurd strategies of loosening restrictions involve all manner of personalities, raising questions as to which groups, individuals and industries are exempt from the MCO.