PERIKATAN Nasional’s performance will be scrutinised again as the fight against the coronavirus winds down and the economy faces an uneven restart because of the contentious conditional movement-control order (CMCO), said pollsters and analysts.
As it is, several ministers have already chalked up gaffes despite only being in Putrajaya for two months.
And despite its top leaders insisting that it is “not playing politics”, PN’s actions during the MCO show that it is fortifying its political position.
“First, if it was so confident in its position, the prime minister would not have admitted that his government was not chosen by voters,” said Mohd Azlan Zainal of polling outfit Ilham Centre.
In a March 27 live address to Malaysians to announce his RM250 billion stimulus package, Muhyiddin Yassin said: “This government may not be the government you voted for, but I want all of you to know that this government cares for you.”
It is understood that Muhyiddin was addressing voters angry over the decision to pull his party, Bersatu, out of the Pakatan Harapan government in late February, which triggered its collapse.
Muhyiddin’s Bersatu MPs then joined up with 10 MPs who defected from another PH party PKR to form a government with former rivals Umno, PAS and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
“The prime minister said it because he wanted to gain the sympathy and support from all Malaysians at a time when his government’s legitimacy was still being questioned,” said Azlan, Ilham Centre’s executive director.
Even while it was battling the coronavirus, the administration appointed MPs from Umno and PAS to plum positions in government-linked companies, statutory bodies and ministerial-level envoy posts, said Azlan.
“Also, if Perikatan really feels secure, why have a one-day Dewan Rakyat session?
“Why not let Dewan Rakyat sit as it was supposed to? If the coalition really has the support of the majority of MPs as they say they do, they should just let Dewan Rakyat sit for a longer period.”
PH leaders and civil society groups have widely criticised PN for holding a one-day Dewan Rakyat session on May 18.
It is widely believed that the one-day session is to prevent PH from tabling a no-confidence motion against Muhyiddin.
Snowball effect
On May 1, Muhyiddin said most sectors of the economy would be allowed to resume on Monday after being shuttered for seven weeks under the MCO.
This was after several days in which new Covid-19 infections dropped below 60 and director-general of health Noor Hisham Abdullah said Malaysia has “flattened the curve” of infections.
The MCO was initially enforced on March 18 to break the chain of Covid-19 infections. As at yesterday, Malaysia recorded 6,467 cases and 107 deaths.
However, some states rejected the CMCO over fears that looser restrictions would lead to crowds and a resurgence of the virus.
Businesses have protested against the decision, saying that it hobbled efforts to restart the economy.
Another pollster, Ibrahim Suffian said there will be pockets of dissatisfaction towards individual state governments which decided to postpone implementing the CMCO.
“But the overall impact is small because the delay is only about one week as the MCO as a whole ends on May 12,” said Ibrahim, executive director of the Merdeka Centre.
“The biggest concern is actually down the road, when the full impact of the recession is going to be felt most probably after Hari Raya Aidilfitri.”
Economists have warned that a recession is in the horizon for Malaysia as well as the rest of the world due to the fact that almost the whole planet is undergoing some form of lockdown to fight the coronavirus.
“The wider and deeper the impact, the bigger the political fallout for Perikatan,” said Ibrahim.
Ilham Centre believes the wave of discontent towards PN has always been there even throughout the MCO as seen in how ministers Dr Adham Baba, Zuraida Kamaruddin, Rina Omar and Noraini Ahmad were denigrated.
“Even if you look at senior minister Azmin Ali’s first live speech, he only received angry emoticons from people tuning into the Facebook live feed. After that, he never made a live speech ever again.
“All these things, the ministerial mistakes, the questions of legitimacy, the anger over insufficient aid will snowball against PN,” said Azlan. – THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT
Will MCO be extended? PM to make an announcement at 2pm tomorrow
KUALA LUMPUR — With just three days remaining for the current movement control order (MCO), Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is making a special address to the nation tomorrow afternoon. He is expected to provide the latest updates on the MCO and there’s a possibility that it could be extended if it’s required to contain the spread of Covid-19.
The PM’s announcement will be streamed live at 2pm on Sunday, 10th May across multiple platforms including RTM, Bernama TV, TV3 and Astro Awani. The MCO which took effect from 18th of March has been extended three times with two-week increments. If the PM decides to announce another extension, it could be extended until the 25th of May.
Covid-19 situation in Malaysia
After almost 8 weeks into the MCO, it appears that Malaysia has made positive progress with mostly double-digit daily numbers for new cases in the past few weeks. As of today, there are a total of 6,589 cases and 108 deaths recorded so far. At the moment, nearly 75 per cent of cases have already recovered and discharged while the mortality rate at 1.64 per cent is below the global average.
At the moment, there are a total of 113 green zones, 77 yellow zones and 11 red zones. The northern states of Perak, Pulau Pinang, Perlis, Kedah and Kelantan are fully green with no new cases recorded.
Since Monday, the 4th of May, most business sectors are permitted to reopen under the conditional movement control order (CMCO) but they must adhere to strict SOP to ensure the safety of both employees and customers. At the same time, the authorities have also reduced restrictions for essential shopping trips by allowing up to 4 family members in a vehicle. The 10km radius limit has also been lifted.
However, interstate travel is still forbidden except for emergency purposes. For those that are stranded, the police are allowing a one-time interstate trip between 7-10 May via Gerak Malaysia.
As mentioned by health director-general, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, the MCO is not meant to eradicate Covid-19 completely, but to help to flatten the curve. This is to ensure that the number of new infections does not overwhelm the country’s healthcare system.
The health D-G had previously mentioned that in order for MCO to be lifted, the country needs to fulfil several criteria which include reducing the number of daily cases to a single digit. The ministry had estimated that the number of daily cases could drop less than 10 per day as early as 5th May but we are behind the target by a week.
However, he reiterated that the most crucial factor is to ensure that the situation is under control. This means that our medical healthcare system has sufficient capacity to handle the daily cases of Covid-19. He also shared that the number of Covid-19 cases in ICU has reduced in the past few weeks and even the number of affected patients that rely on respiratory support is now less than 10 cases.
Although the restrictions under the MCO are gradually lifted, Malaysians are urged to stay at home if they don’t have any valid reasons to go out. Even if MCO is lifted, social distancing is still required and everyone needs to take additional measures in the new normal. Public gathering including religious, cultural and private events are still not permitted.
In a recent press conference, he gave examples such as South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan, where they have managed to control the number of cases without suspending economic activities. This is due to the self-discipline of its citizens as they comply with social distancing guidelines in their daily life.
Will MCO be extended? We’ll find out soon enough. — SoyaCincau
THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT / malay mail
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