YOURSAY | 'It's compliance for other people or only when big brother is watching.'

Health director shares stories of how Covid-19 spread in Terengganu

Clever Voter: The majority of people across the country are not taking the risk of Covid-19 infection and its potential danger seriously enough.

The situation is made worse by the lack of leadership in the government. The lack of awareness is one thing, but the depth of know-how in prevention management leaves much to be desired.

Being popular is one thing, but the minority government, fearful of losing power, puts their interest above everything else.

As seen elsewhere, the country will be badly affected economically in the long run. The negative perception of the regime runs deep and is beyond repair.

The people are seemingly ignorant and often foolish. Evidence of people attempting to cross borders, jamming the highways and packing various gatherings, including by public servants and ministers, are indications of such naivety.

BobbyO: The failure starts at the top. What was being done in over one year since the government came into power?

Nothing except for politicking, trying to stay in power and rewarding all those who remained faithful with perks and positions.

Meanwhile, leaders of other nations were fighting tooth and nail to reduce Covid-19 numbers. Many succeeded, but we are not one of them.

People want their life to return to normal as fast as possible to do things they regularly do. How long can they wait? The administration is dragging its feet on the vaccination programme.

They have declared one movement control order (MCO) after another. This is affecting not only people’s daily lives but their incomes too. So, stop blaming the people all the time.

RedRusa3189: The sad truth is thousands of idiots have escaped the dragnet to ‘balik kampung’. Now they are returning to the Klang Valley. I won't be surprised that Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya will see a spike by the end of this month.

They are playing Russian roulette, and their luck is running out.

Fair Comments: I think the authorities have to take part of the blame for not being strict in enforcing the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

The authorities cannot act innocent as if they do not know the behavioural patterns of people.

The Analyser: @Fair Comments, if you think we will combat the pandemic through strict enforcement, then I suspect you will have to wait a long time to see any result.

The Malaysian obsession with enforcement is truly worrying. It leaves two impressions in the mind of an observer.

1) This will be no compliance unless people think big brother is watching.

2) Compliance is for other people.

These awful attitudes dominate our society and are an appalling monument to the way people were raised and our delusions of superiority.

Education is the only answer. But have you seen any attempt to educate that is not an exercise in telling you what to do?

People need to understand if you want them to comply.

But that too is an idea that is unpopular in Malaysia because understanding gives a person the right to self-determination. And everyone in power, institutions and personalities abhor the concept of self-determination.

OCT: When the rakyat have different ideologies, religious beliefs and don't believe in science, it is the perfect storm for a pandemic to spread.

The imams of the mosque should be held accountable and responsible for crowd management at mosques.

As SOP has been set, and the imams should adhere to it. No ifs or buts. In addition, police should conduct surprise checks at mosques since it is known that these are the places where the SOP is not followed.

Issue maximum fines to the imam and worshippers for breaking SOP. If police and enforcers prefer to ignore these infractions due to religious sensitivity, don’t blame the spread of the virus because it is due to your inaction.

Gua EngKu Lim: This is totally unacceptable. My fellow Muslims, please follow our Prophet Muhammad’s teaching regarding the pandemic.

1. Travel bans and quarantine. “If you hear the outbreak of plague in a land, do not enter it; and if the plague breaks out in a place while you are in it, do not leave that place.” - Sahih al-Bukhari

2. Social distancing and isolation.

3. Hygiene.

4. Seek medical treatment.

GrayLlama6431: Just revert back to the full closure of all religious institutions just like what they did in MCO 1.0. Cases are at a critically high level now, and there is no time to waste in tinkering with the SOP.

During MCO 1.0, new cases were very low. However, with new variants now causing higher infectivity, we cannot waste any more time imposing stricter measures.

We do not want things to blow out of hand, like what happened in India.

Safefail: How wonderful if our health minister and director-general were to be as open and direct as Terengganu Health director Dr Nor Azimi Yunus.

We are dearly in need of people of her calibre and attitude to formulate and enforce strict policies/SOPs based on fact and science, not on sentiment.

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