COMMENT | An article yesterday quoted Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah as informing the public during his daily press conference on Covid-19 that Malaysians are encouraged to wear face masks, though it was not made compulsory.

I reacted to the article with a smirk.

“Encouraged but not compulsory”. What does that mean?

I asked my friends and their response was: “It’s good if you decide to wear it. But if you don’t, that’s okay.”

Err, if it is good to wear a face mask, why then make it okay not to wear it?

I wasn’t quite satisfied with their answer, so I asked my kids, and their reply was: “It just means you can wear it if you want to. But if you don’t, it’s okay.”

Well, if it is completely up to us to decide, why even bother mentioning it...?