COMMENT | “I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. That the system would try to be fair and transparent in this one thing,” a friend of mine said.

The poor sap was talking about fairness when it came to the distribution of vaccines, which arrived on our shores a week ago.

“You gotta be kidding me, bro,” I replied.

In a system where everything is about privilege - cronyism, patronage, ill-gotten wealth and false prestige - you are naive if you believe a rubber tapper will be given the same treatment as a VIP.

Do you really believe that? Pull the other leg.

Firstly, this sort of thing extends far beyond Malaysia. Spain’s royal family is facing fierce criticism after it emerged that the former king Juan Carlos’ daughters Cristina and Elena were vaccinated against Covid-19 while visiting their father in his self-imposed exile in Abu Dhabi last month.

“We want everyone to be equal in this country and this is...