YOURSAY | 'Let Pakatan Harapan's ministers return to their respective posts.'

Azmin wants alternatives to full economic shutdown considered

New Year: The people will never forget the Sabah fiasco. From that day onwards, the numbers of new Covid-19 cases keep increasing.

Moreover, it has been 10 months since Perikatan Nasional (PN) has been in power and yet, they remain clueless on how to manage the crisis.

Since the first movement control order (MCO), many businesses have not recovered. Now, with the second MCO (MCO 2.0), there will be more businesses that are going to fail.

If right from the beginning, the Health Ministry had set up a committee of experts in advising or managing the pandemic, we might not have to come to this. Instead, it has been left to the incompetent Health Ministry. They have failed, big time.

What is there to hide by not allowing professionals with full authority to handle the Covid crisis?

Passerby: Senior Minister Azmin Ali, I think the best alternative is for you and the PN government to step down.

Hand over the government to those who can garner majority support without bribing the MPs with positions and declaring emergency.

Let Pakatan Harapan’s ministers return to their respective posts. They were doing much, much better than you and Health Minister Dr Adham Baba.

Apa Nama: Oh, my goodness Azmin, only now you think about alternatives. You were supposed to think about this six or eight months ago, so that we can prepare for this.

Azmin, all this boils down to competency.

OrangePuffin1531: Sadly, most manufacturers have to be coerced before they take real action to look after the welfare of their workers - local and foreign. It’s too little, too late.

Why didn't you impose these changes 12 months ago, Azmin? The only good thing that may come out of this pandemic is that it forces businesses, the government and the people to treat others more humanely.

OrangeViper4306: Firstly, we are already in a complete lockdown. Businesses are closed, except for essential goods services.

Even if business owners have obtained approval from Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) to stay open, the National Security Council (NSC) and the Health Ministry officials visit business premises and order them to be closed. There is no coordination among these three agencies.

How do businesses pay their staff if they cannot operate? As it is, with MCO 2.0, business is so poor that what minor sales they can secure is better than nothing. Businesses must be kept open with proper adherence to the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Secondly, it is time to get vaccines from India, which are cheap, easy to store and less risky. The only problem is, our 95-year-old former leader has always been a loud-mouth in international relations, much to Malaysia's disadvantage.

Anon25: I agree with Azmin. This is a virus infection of high infectivity but relatively low and acceptable mortality.

Virus infections will burn out, like H1N1 and SARS. They’re more dangerous but there were no lockdowns. We survived.

So, there’s no need for major lockdowns. There will be severe negative impact on the economy, which may take years to recover.

The Health Ministry and the other medical specialists are thinking only of the infection. They think the economy is unavoidable collateral damage. You are a senior minister, Azmin. Call the shots!

Chokstone: After the first MCO, we have been following the methodology of US and Europe; see how they are doing now, they are heading to a worse situation, but at least for them, vaccines are at hand. We were lagging in terms of preparation and vaccine procurement.

Covid-19 hospitals have been overwhelmed, quarantine centres packed and saturated, soon they’ll run out of ventilators. The worst is yet to come.

Obviously, this backdoor government has never thought that the daily infected cases could reach thousands.

Velarooks: I think we need to maintain some form of lockdown to lower the current curve. Once it's at a more manageable level, we can implement more proactive measures.

Points to consider: Sixty percent of Malaysians live in multigenerational homes; factories need to lower operational capacity temporarily to ensure proper screening and SOPs can be implemented; and undocumented migrants need to be tracked and screened as soon as possible (it'll just lead to another wave if left unchecked).

The government needs to keep scaring people with MCO to make Malaysians fall in line. Too many aren't disciplined enough.

Just A Malaysian: But lockdown is a double-edged sword. It flattens the infection curve but impacts the working class. The economic cost is too high. We are not a country with high reserves.

Alternatives needed to be sought, like allowing each state to open internally but closed to the other state. Then we focus on vaccination. This has to start as soon as possible.

The Health Ministry needs to find a creative way to expand medical facilities and quarantine centres temporarily. The Health director-general needs to think out of the box more aggressively. The whole society needs to be engaged.

Increasing fines is not the right way. The administration needs to think smart. And most importantly, leave politics or the desire to appease the voter base out of this. This is war.

Manjit Bhatia: "Hence, the notion that the economy can revive instantaneously after a lockdown has been lifted has no real basis," said Azmin.

This claim is a direct slap to the face of Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz. It says the 6.5-7.5 percent GDP growth that Zafrul has been throwing around like confetti is unadulterated nonsense.

This includes forecasts by so-called analysts in Malaysia and throughout the region. The trouble with these analysts and Malaysian politicians is that they're all for creating "fake" arguments and passing them off as gospel truth, as if the people are too stupid that nobody will catch them out.

But what's Azmin's game now? Does he want Zafrul's job, which is more prestigious than that of the Miti minister, and puts him within a sniff of becoming prime minister?

YellowTiger1314: PN has all the smartest and most talented people in Malaysia - that's why you got rid of Harapan because you think you can do better.

Well, now it's your chance to shine. Don't ask people what they can do for their country, ask what you can do for the country, Mr Miti Icon!

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