"Covid-19 does not recognise ranks or status, it can infect anyone. The SOPs set by the authorities must be abided by all."

- Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin

COMMENT | "Abah's" joke about using the "rotan" on those ignoring the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) does not seem to have gone down well with a certain section of the voting public.

This, of course, is to be expected. The reality is that many people who support the various political power structures that make up the Perikatan Nasional government got the joke.

The vast majority are comfortable with a paternalistic attitude and the politically incorrect humour that comes with it as long as a certain level of economic comfort and political stability is maintained through a system of entitlements that forms the basis of Malaysian politics.

There is this canard that political types propagate that Covid-19 does not recognise rank or status. While the virus may not make such distinctions, such distinctions matter when it comes to overcoming the health and economic consequences of getting this virus.

The fact is that rank and status is the main reason why we have a resurgence of this virus because of the recently concluded Sabah elections. The reasons for the polls and the way that SOPs were disregarded makes a mockery of Abah's...