Building herd immunity just for elections

 

In a Code Blue report (Health Care and Human Rights) vaccine coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin explains, using Oxford logic, why Sarawak must be vaccinated first so it can hold its state elections safely. This is despite Selangor reporting three times more Covid-19 deaths than Sarawak in May.

According to the report, the federal government said it is prioritising Sarawak for Covid-19 vaccination to be the first state to complete its inoculation drive due to the impending state elections. According to Khairy, Sarawak will receive 4.4 million doses of two-dose Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate its entire 2.2 million adult population by the end of August, at an estimated 45,000 daily shots to the arm.

Good luck to Khairy, knowing the geography of Sarawak, its terrain and topography. You will also need to climb trees like the Sabah student to gain internet connection. Even in urban areas where you have registered with MySejahtera, you will be left wondering what is actually happening when you don’t get a call despite being in the vulnerable age group.

From May 1 to May 27, however, Sarawak reported 94 Covid-19 deaths, more than three times fewer than Selangor’s 309 fatalities. Despite the death statistics, Khairy explained that Sarawak is required by law to hold its state elections within 60 days should the Emergency Ordinance in the country end on August 1 as scheduled.

Unfortunately, this kind of thinking did not apply before the Sabah elections. The power grab that failed, some say orchestrated by Kuala Lumpur, led to the 16th Sabah state elections. The state elections became a super spreader event and exposed Sabahans and peninsula politicians who came to campaign. Sabah is still suffering from the Covid-19 blues in the aftermath of a bruising election campaign led by “Abah”.

Malaysia is probably the only country in the world with plans to inoculate the entire adult population and build herd immunity within three months just to hold an election. The “Malaysia boleh” spirit at work here once again.

It is an easier task to change the law at the state assembly or Dewan Rakyat than build herd immunity among 2.2 million adults in a state that is larger than the peninsula. Alternatively, we would think that the Agong could also use his emergency powers to maintain Sarawak under the state of emergency until the Covid-19 crisis is under control. The Agong has already done that under the Emergency Ordinance.

Sweden is perhaps the best country by which to understand whether herd immunity works. With a smaller population of 10 million, Sweden put their citizens into a herd experiment and refused to impose a lockdown. In the beginning the experiment seemed to go well compared with the rest of Europe.

However, things turned for the worse as death tolls increased and people questioned whether Sweden had made the right policy choice. The jury is not out yet. At least Sweden’s Covid-19 policies were guided by scientists, in Malaysia our Covid-19 battles are guided by politicians. That’s a big difference.

According to Khairy, if the state of Sarawak is not fully vaccinated by the time they have their state elections, then not only the state of Sarawak, but the entire country is at risk of another wave and we cannot afford that.

I am wondering how this can happen. There is a distance of 980km or about 1 hour’s travel time by air – if the whole Sheraton crowd descends into Sarawak, as they did in the Sabah elections, and teaches Sarawakians how to run their elections.

Khairy claims that it is not a political matter or preference, rather it is a legal requirement for Sarawak to have its elections 60 days after the state of emergency is lifted. The same can be said for the Dewan Rakyat.

In the Westminster system of government, which Malaysia follows, it is a fundamental principle that the government must retain the confidence of the legislature, as it is not possible for a government to operate effectively without the support of the majority of the people’s representatives. This means the government (the cabinet) must retain the confidence of a majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

Currently, it is difficult to test the confidence of the majority as Parliament has been suspended. State elections are not as important as parliamentary elections where laws are made and policies fine-tuned according to the wishes of the people.

If Khairy can vaccinate a state, he can also vaccinate a nation of 31 million. In America, with a population of 328 million, about 42% of the population has already been vaccinated.

Sarawak’s vaccination urgency should be the nation’s instead.

When the Dewan Rakyat is reconvened, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has to call for a general election. With less than 5% of the population in Malaysia vaccinated, we are looking at a national catastrophe in the making.

Then the only option is to keep the nation in a prolonged state of emergency, which may keep Perikatan Nasional supporters happy, but will increase the instability of the nation.

With daily threats from Umno who is eagerly waiting in the wings to make a comeback and regain control of the government, the scenario is not good. This may not happen as many of their leaders are undergoing corruption trials, but it will continue to make Malaysia economically and politically unstable and scare away foreign investors.

In the meantime, Khairy, do not forget to vaccinate all Sabahans, too, who have voted the PN government into power at the state level. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.