'Clueless gov't' means we are responsible for our safety

If we can’t behave like adults, we need to be prepared to face not just a lockdown but massive infections and probably deaths.

It’s infuriating to note that despite the rapidly-rising Covid-19 cases, people are still eating in restaurants and the owners are capitalising on it, instead of strictly telling their patrons not to dine in.

Such restaurants must be shut down completely and fined for not adhering to the movement control order.

These may seem like tough measures but do we have a choice? We have close to 700 cases of Covid-19 and two deaths so far.

If this is not frightening enough, the government’s poorly coordinated initiative at movement control may have already resulted in an even bigger nightmare.

There were hundreds of people at police stations to get permits to travel back to their hometowns and scores more at bus terminals when the police announced a ban on inter-state travel.

Universities and colleges shut their hostels, forcing students to balik kampung, resulting in a bigger exodus.

This forced the police to do an immediate U-turn on the ban and then re-instate the ban.

We have, therefore, clearly failed at restricting movement and worse, may have contributed to more people getting infected.

It is, therefore, crucial for the government to think through the next plan and ensure that its ministries are not causing even more harm.

The Women and Family Ministry, for example, had temporarily suspended its hotline until the end of the month.

This is disastrous as children should have access to counselling as they will experience even more isolation and stress until the restricted movement order ends, not to mention that many could be stuck at home with abusive parents or guardians.

We are, however, thankful that pressure from activists and child rights groups pushed the ministry to re-instate all Talian Kasih lines.

With a clueless government in place, we have an even bigger responsibility to ensure that we stay safe.

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CHARLES SANTIAGO is the MP for Klang. - Mkini