Yoursay: PM, we may have lost Covid-19 battle even before it started

YOURSAY | ‘Come down hard on those who remain indifferent or adamant. Don't appeal. Don't beg.’

Muhyiddin pleads with M'sians to stay home, warns control order could be extended

Chicken Rice: The government has completely botched up the partial lockdown plan. Without an appropriate containment strategy, the virus will decimate our health system and there will be many casualties.

The purpose of a lockdown is to flatten the infection curve to give the health system a chance to cope with the epidemic and ride out the storm. There are a few models to flatten the infection curve:

1. China's model of draconian lockdown.

2. Singapore and Taiwan's model of containment and contact tracing.

3. Leave it to the people to build herd immunity. This is the most dangerous strategy as it is gambling with people's lives.

Malaysia has missed the best model (contain and contact tracing) by playing backdoor government politics at a time when we were battling the outbreak.

There is only one option left which is the China's model and the incompetent government has botched it by causing panic with confusing and mixed messages. The result, a mass exodus.

Remember, it was the mass exodus of Wuhan that brought us this global catastrophe, regardless of how the Chinese government want to spin the story.

According to many scientific modelling, the virus will double every couple of days and it is on the path to exponential growth. God bless Malaysia.

Coffee Shop Talk: The movement control order that began on Wednesday was a blunder as it was confusing and not properly detailed out. It caused unnecessary panic among the rakyat and people rushed to ‘balik kampung’ before the March 18 dateline.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, it’s a bit late for you to make a special announcement, as most already left Kuala Lumpur as you can see from the empty streets this afternoon. It looks like the battle is already lost before it started.

Gasinggeorge: They made a huge blunder by allowing public transport and bus companies to operate.

And the one advantage of having just one highway running from north to south and east to west is that you need very little resources to check every single car on their destination and reason for travel.

Curbing the spread to other parts of the country should not have had any (two-day) notice, but come into effect immediately.

Extending the movement order into April is now not going to save many small towns and kampungs from a large number of infections.

JD Lovrenciear: Come down hard on those who remain indifferent or adamant. Don't appeal. Don't beg. This is the season to take every measure to ensure that those who are determined to save this nation, their families and themselves are protected.

So put your police on the road. Put your enforcement units on the beat. Confiscate licences. Seal premises. Arrest strollers. Then only these Malaysians understand. And please get your National Security Council to address the nation daily.

MS: Listen up, Muhyiddin, if you were a widely respected prime minister who thinks of and speaks for all Malaysians, who believes that all ethnic communities contribute to building the nation and that non-Malays are every bit as loyal to the country as you present yourself to be, your call for cooperation and sacrifice would receive overwhelmingly spontaneous support.

You, on the other hand, have proven to be divisive, cunning and self-serving as much as the conniving man you displaced through your malevolence and disloyalty.

As recently as Tuesday, you orchestrated the wilful omission of the Pakatan Harapan states from a national crisis meeting even as you presided over the crowded chaos of mass uncontrollable people movement triggered by the incompetent, uncoordinated lot taking instructions from you.

If you were innocent of that charge, the man who apologised for the colossal screw-up would have received a show-cause letter by now.

And because you are everything I’ve described you are, you did not see the reason to apologise to Malaysians for that debacle, which only served to increase the risk of infection for everyone exposed and question your competence for the job of crisis management.

Humility is certainly not your strong suit, unlike your cunning and traitorous tendencies - which manifested first under then PM Najib Abdul Razak and then under Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

So simply remember that you are inconsequential to whatever happens - the fate of the people is in their hands and, for those who believe, their Maker. You and the bumbling politicos in your herd are merely superfluous distractions.

Kawak: Once the PM cannot command the respect and confidence of all Malaysians, he has a problem. He is not able to mobilise the moral strength and resilience of the rakyat to fight Covid-19.

The people in Wuhan encouraged one another to fight the virus during the crisis. They even came up with a song to encourage everyone to defeat the virus. Such was their fighting spirit. They succeeded.

Vijay47: The prime minister did not really say anything (in his address to the nation), it was just a “friendly fatherly chat” to stay indoors, to come in when it rains.

Perhaps if he is compelled to speak to the nation a third time, he will take off the kid gloves and warn of the hard action he would take against those who endanger themselves and the public.

Nevertheless, lifestyles seem to be changing, the streets seem to be almost empty, the crazy crowds at the supermarkets are easing off, and people will soon start complying to the higher degree required.

Maybe the big stick would not be needed after all. The first home-stay week will pass relatively quickly enough.

What stress and strain would arise by the second week? We don't know, we actually have no choice, we just have to bear it and stay indoors.

XED: Malaysians don’t believe in obeying the law. There are many traffic and parking offences, even under the noses of law enforcement officers. There are many illegal hawker stalls. There is corruption everywhere.

And the government thinks that Malaysians will quickly obey the law regarding the partial lockdown?

Existential Turd: The leaders do not comply with their own rules, how do you expect the people to follow?

Gerard Lourdesamy: The cabinet should invite the Covid-19 virus to dinner at the Sheraton Hotel and then come up with a backdoor solution to the problem.

We are getting sick and tired of the incompetence and inefficiency in handling this pandemic.

Anonymous_1562215831431.87741562215138587: All this lashing out at the backdoor government is really getting stale. I`m pretty angry at them too, but there's something bigger out there that needs to be addressed.

Can't we just be united just this one time, offer our support so that we can get through this storm safely? It’s better if we can offer ideas and comment constructively, instead of complaining.

When this is behind us, then we can continue with the bashing, perhaps harder than ever. Heck, we should even bring them down democratically when the time comes.

Anonymous 2450121480909934: Malaysians are pro-virologists, epidemiologists, and vaccinologists when it comes to the Covid-19 outbreak. Until we got lockdown, then all the intelligence goes to the ‘kiasu’ bin.

All wanted to go back to their hometown to spread the new religion of Covid-19. Just like the tabligh guys. Came to learn how to proselytise but end up in a very different proselytisation exercise.

KenRyuu: I now believe that the virus is here to wipe out stupidity.

Anak Malaysia: Our country and the lives of our loved one are now in real danger. Also, we don’t want to burden our frontline medical teams who have sacrificed so much to save lives.

So please, let us be responsible citizens and be cooperative by staying at home during these 14 days. Don’t go out, unless it’s really necessary.

Stay calm, practise good hygiene, be kind and pray to our God. Together we can overcome this crisis. - Mkini