YOURSAY | ‘Weaponising a health issue has great unintended consequences.’
Muhyiddin: Emergency needed as Covid-19 worse than war
Federal Bakery: Is the Covid-19 pandemic worse than endemic corruption? Worse than leaders stealing the public wealth? Worse than the general ineptitude of a bunch of political shysters who took on the mantle of government by stealth?
If the pandemic is worse than war as former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin seems to see it, it is because he and the bunch who call themselves ‘the government’ lack the aptitude to deal with the disease and need a metaphor to hide their failings.
Pompous platitudes of the type that is being meted out by this man and his friends won’t cure even an ant bite.
The pandemic reigns and will continue to reign for as long as democracy is banished, as long as we are ruled by street gangs who conduct the affairs of state through press conferences and the fiat of their own utterances and by invoking authority outside the democratic processes which this country was once ruled by.
The greater danger we face today is that all of what is happening is being justified by our experts as autochthonous alternatives to the constitutional set-up we are used to. Shame.
OCT: Muhyiddin’s decision to declare an emergency didn't achieve the results it was intended for.
Many countries fought the virus without declaring emergency. In the end, these countries ended up in much better shape.
Muhyiddin used the wrong tool to fight the virus and lost. In actual fact, the emergency helped him to remain as PM and to spend without being questioned.
Just look at the confusing SOPs and MCOs introduced by his then senior minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and how his ministers breached the rules. The rakyat became collateral damage while his ministers were not reprimanded.
His whole team of more than 70 ministers and deputy ministers, special envoys, and advisers couldn't manage the crisis. Most of the time was spent on defending his PM post. Eventually, he was nevertheless ousted by Umno.
This is the result when the PM the rakyat voted for was not the PM they got but a backdoor PM. Instead of the best of the best, we got the worst of the worst.
Drngsc: Liar. You declared an emergency to exercise dictatorial powers, including suspending Parliament.
When you declared an emergency, you didn’t know who your supporters were in Parliament and who were there just for the freebies - and there were many of these floating around.
You were never serious about Covid but you were quick to use it as an excuse to grab more power, until you couldn’t anymore.
You bought people with cabinet positions. You have a cabinet larger than multiple football teams but with ministers who cannot even pronounce things properly.
Mosquitobrain: Muhyiddin, only an Abu Dhabi-based newspaper The National is willing to interview you.
All Malaysians know the emergency was never intended to combat the Covid-19 pandemic but to keep you and your incompetent Perikatan Nasional (PN) government safe in Putrajaya. What war are you referring to?
By the way, did the declared emergency help to checkmate the virus? No! In actual fact, we wasted many productive months.
Many industries were brought to their knees because of a 'gila kuasa' (power hungry) individual and his incompetent cabinet.
Maya: Muhyiddin, if you were genuine, you would not have used the backdoor. If you were genuine, you would not have been forced to resign.
If you were genuine, the emergency was not needed. After all, you allowed a state election which caused an outpouring of Covid cases with many deaths.
There is no need to feel guilty and come out with these dumb statements, which was what you were spewing all through your reign.
JaguhKampung5757: What a spin, Abah. Was the emergency was used to siphon money to your cronies? We know you approved unnecessary millions to upgrade your residence in Putrajaya.
The rakyat suffered due to your cabinet’s clueless policies and double standards.
3742857317043269: Politicising and weaponising a health issue has great unintended consequences.
Hoisted by one’s own petard is one of them in addition to the economic carnage, social and cultural destruction, tens of thousands of avoidable deaths, as well as the theft of our future and that of future generations.
The collateral damage inflicted by the gross incompetence and mismanagement of the health crisis will continue to manifest for many years to come.
Before any lessons can be learned, is there any humility, integrity, and honesty to recognise and admit errors were made? Is there any wisdom left to learn from the mistakes?
The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.
These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.