YOURSAY | ‘The power to allow gatherings lies with the home minister and not health minister.’
Health minister: Previous gov't failed to contain tabligh cluster
Anonymous_1583374005178.90011583373451643: The facts are there for everyone to check, so there is no need to get upset when people called a spade a spade.
The fact of the matter is that Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Pakatan Harapan did nothing between Feb 23 and March 10, and all the then prime minister did during that time was to throw away RM10 billion of Covid-19 stimulus package while allowing a mass gathering to take place under his nose.
And what is more depressing and embarrassing is that Mahathir and his wife were both medical doctors.
Anonymous_1533094668: Health Minister Adham Baba, please get the facts right before you accuse others. The first case reported outside China was on Jan 13. The first case reported in Malaysia was on Jan 25.
In February, there were only two confirmed cases reported in Malaysia. It is nonsense for the prime minister to stop all activity in the country because of these two cases.
Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) did not issue any travel ban in February. The government changed on Feb 28. The tabligh meeting took place from Feb 27 to March 3.
Who is responsible for giving the permit for the tabligh group? It is none other than the police or the Home Ministry.
Why the permit was issued in the first place? Who was the home minister at that time? Why are you blaming the previous Harapan government instead of the then home minister?
Constitutional Supremacy: The coup happened on Feb 23. The tabligh meeting was from Feb 27 to about March 3.
The power to allow gatherings lies with the home minister and not health minister. And the home minister on the day of the coup was Muhyiddin Yassin, the present prime minister.
Thus, trying to put blame on the previous government is foolish.
GooseNBanter: The existence of the ‘Wuhan Virus’ was made known to the world as early as late December last year. By the first two weeks of January, a few countries had identified infected foreigners and/or locals.
What was the Home Ministry doing at that time? Developing content for the announcement it was going to make on cancelling all public events? Well, they were just too slow.
If the Home Ministry then had been efficient in taking immediate and precautionary steps, we would not be faced with the numbers we have now. What could the Home Ministry have been so occupied with that the announcement to cancel all public events and gatherings was deemed as unimportant?
You are 100 percent correct, Adham. The home minister under the Harapan government is to be blamed. So when will you be calling for the former home minister to resign?
Pokokelapa: Adham, just show us the papers as to who accepted and sanctioned the tabligh gathering. If no one sanctioned it, then it is an illegal gathering.
Tabligh is an Islamic movement that focuses on exhorting Muslims to practise their religion as it was practised during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, particularly in matters of ritual, dress and personal behaviour.
The organisation is estimated to have between 12 million to 80 million adherents worldwide, with the majority living in South Asia, and a presence in somewhere between 180 and 200 countries. It has been deemed as one of the most influential religious movements.
Anonymous_1550607211: If the previous government did stop the gathering, they will be blamed (by Umno and PAS) for being anti-Islam. It is a no-win situation.
And the health minister has to make it worse by politicising a terrible situation which had led to the suffering of thousands and the deaths of some. Please don't use them for your political gain.
Evin K: This one just compels more questions than it does answers.
1. Why is the health minister on a documented conference call to the Umno president (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) giving him a report on this pandemic? The Umno president is not part of the government nor does he hold any positions outside his party.
2. Why does the Umno president have to remind the health minister to also aid constituencies belonging to opposition parties? Aren't we all Malaysians?
3. Why is the health minister shamelessly taking all the credit for all the hard work done by Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah? This is the same health minister that went on live TV and told Malaysians, and by extension, the entire world, that drinking hot water aids in fighting the Covid-19 virus!
4. Why is this person still the health minister?
Mazilamani: Let us not be too critical of the health minister. Let us not condemn him for his suggestion to drink warm water. The Chinese health authorities have also suggested the same plus gurgling with saltwater. What have we to say about it?
The first early cases were imported from China. Why did we not stop tourists from China at the first notice? We were more concern about offending China and losing tourism money.
Had we considered the seriousness of the epidemic, it is very likely the authorities may have acted to stop the tabligh event. That could have stopped the exponential spread.
We were also going through some political alignment at the wrong time, with our leaders' focus scattered diversely. In short, for almost two or three weeks, nobody paid a damn about how the ominous virus was spreading silently and unchecked.
We must thank our new prime minister for instructing Health director-general (DG) Noor Hisham Abdullah to take charge. Professor KS Jomo, who does not mince his words, has also praised the prime minister for his timely leadership and direction.
Eleos: We must remain focussed. The enemy at hand is the Covid-19 virus. We are doing reasonably well. But this an unknown enemy. What further weapons it has, we do not know. We must be eternally vigilant.
There are failings in the movement control order (MCO). Some violators are getting away scot-free while others are severely punished. All of us must comply for the sake of our nation.
Let us not create rifts in the leadership when dealing with this issue. We are not out of the Covid-19 crisis. We are still deep in it. We must be united and stay strong.
The DG and Health Ministry are doing a good job. We are thankful to them. But now is not the time to sit on our laurels. Our job is not finished.
We should not waste our time and energy making claims and counter-claims. The DG has maintained a calm demeanour. And so must the rakyat.
YOURSAY | Adham can’t hold a candle to Noor Hisham
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