A visit to Turkey: Is government playing chicken with Covid-19?

It was brought to light yesterday that a lawmaker and minister decided to go on an official visit to Turkey, return and went straight to Parliament, ignoring the Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) of undergoing a quarantine.

At a time when Defence Minister Ismail Sabri is being shown live daily saying no one is above the law, not even state authorities wanting to limit health tourism due to the rising number of coronavirus cases, this leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

But more to the point, how is it that Plantations and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali is not wearing a mandatory quarantine band after returning overseas and being told to stay in a quarantine centre?

Ministers should know by now that just getting such a post and even going on official visits does not mean they are above the law. I would have thought the lesson to be clear when the Deputy Health Minister of Noor Azmi Ghazali had to pay the fine for violating the movement control order (MCO) after having a group lunch.

There is also the time when Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein decided to vape in parliament because he didn’t want to take a smoke break. Yes, vaping is safe to partake inside a residence, but it is still barred inside Parliament.

As I was listening in to the parliament debate while this topic was being discussed, some government MPs tried to butt in by saying it was alright because it was an “official visit”. Are you kidding me?

No, an “official visit” is not a reason for SOP exemption at a time of pandemics.

Some have defended the minister by saying he did not test positive. Yet again, this is another breach of the Ministry of Health’s SOP because you get tested and then quarantined for 14 days before being tested again and released. How did this minister manage to bypass this?

The problem here is the example set by the minister being let off screams of double standards and hypocrisy, especially when you have people suffering out there in quarantine and breaching it just so that they can apply for the Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) payments.

But the bigger problem is that the minister is setting an example that might trigger the entire quarantined population to reconsider their need to remain indoors and avoid interacting with the general public. And we all know, just one positive case – which is 80 percent without any symptoms – can result in yet another cluster.

So imagine what this minister’s supporters will do if they are led by example.

This government came in during a time of crisis, and the way Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin handled the crisis is what has been keeping him popular among the general public – or at least, popular enough to maintain power in his Perikatan/Muafakat Nasional alliance.

It survived one deputy minister going on a jaunt for lunch during the MCO, a minister saying that women should keep their husbands happy by sounding like Doraemon, another minister boasting of talking to “500 countries”.

Does this government really want to deal with yet another fallout due to a minister wanting to attend Parliament without getting quarantined after coming back from Turkey?

Does this government truly want to play chicken with a pandemic triggering virus for the sake of maintaining an alliance of power?

At the same time, if Parliament can take a 10-minute break before voting for a supplementary bill, it is better to take a break now to sanitise the building. Furthermore, it should also quarantine any members of the minister's staff who were involved with that trip.

On top of that, all those seated or had close contact with the minister needs to be tested and quarantined for public safety.

The fact that ministers are flouting this general order set by the Health Ministry's director-general goes to show that some are already turning a blind eye towards the pandemic and spitting in the face of Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s efforts to get this pandemic under control.

And let’s face it – 60 percent of this government’s current popularity and support is only due to him.

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HAFIDZ BAHAROM is the former communications director of the Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM). - Mkini
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