Political crisis worsens pandemic says an observer
A foreign observer told Worldfuturetv the local political crisis is not helping in curbing the spread of the COVID-19 in Malaysia.
The interview was done right before the news of the declaration of an emergency broke in Malaysia.
The Malaysian government is in turmoil after the biggest party in the coalition in power threatened to pull-out support.
A few MPs from the Umno has made a public declaration on their refusal to support the current government while their party is in the coalition in power.
While the political situation heated up, the government here has advised the King of Malaysia to declare a nationwide emergency to help curb the pandemic. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin says the emergency is not a military emergency.
He says the civilian government will still function. He also informed the public the Parliament will be suspended and there will be no elections in the country until August 1. The emergency will last until that date.
The observer says with the surging cases of covid, the most important thing for Malaysia is to flatten the curve.
On Monday the PM had announced sweeping measures to curb the pandemic, including a complete lockdown in 8 states.
EMERGENCY CHANGES ALL
Nevertheless, the observer is of the opinion that the covid pandemic is tough for the B40’s in Malaysia.
“For the poor, they have a lot of difficulties and what is important for them are the basic necessities. The government should ensure basic commodities are made available to them, as well as raise their knowledge about Covid-19 infections and social distancing and on how to implement SOP strictly.”
“At this time, Lockdown is needed and Malaysia should implement the MCO strictly and seriously,” he says to Worldfuturetv.
Malaysian experts/analysts say the political situation make it difficult to fight covid while the3 economy requires opening up and easing of SOP to function.
The emergency will come with a series of SOPs and some of them might make it difficult to carry out business for some segments of the economy.
This will cause serious damages to some businesses and cause a potential loss of jobs or pay cuts for the employees.
On the other hand, the observer says the lockdown measure are also tough for foreigners.
“The pandemic affected so many of them. They loose jobs, they have low income or no income and are not allowed to work in some cases without visas to earn a living while in lockdown.
“They are stuck at home and cannot back to their home country. They authorities need to think clearly how to assist them,” he says.