COMMENT | The debate if Malaysia is a failed, failing or going to fail state is a distraction. The existential threat facing Malaysia at this moment is that our healthcare system is failing, right before our eyes but more importantly the political will to battle this pandemic is directed at the conflict within the establishment.

For years, our healthcare system was riddled with the usual afflictions associated with the ethnocentric rule, which meant that incompetent management, corruption and a general malaise towards the rakyat were delibitating but the country and the healthcare system managed to limp around like a befuddled patient wandering the halls of general hospital.

What this pandemic has done, what healthcare professionals and competent leaders the world over had warned, is that this pandemic exposes the structural weakness of any given system. At any other time, even under Umno or Pakatan Harapan rule, we would have at least managed to put up a good if compromised fight. However, with this backdoor government, all we have are a bunch of brigands more interested in political survival than running this country, even if in a flawed manner.

Due to the political instability brought upon by the Sheraton players, the political establishment has been unable to mount an effective defence against this pandemic. And let us not let the rakyat off the hook either. When the rakyat sees political operatives breaking SOPs, or when the government rolls back restrictions, it makes the pandemic less serious and it becomes a partisan issue rather than a health emergency.

Reaching out to a political operative involved in healthcare policies...