From No. 85 on Nov. 18, Malaysia has set a world record and jumped 35 places in two-and-a-half months to be among the top 50 countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases

I had expected Malaysia to be ranked among the top 50 countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases before the Chinese New Year, but we have achieved this dubious feat a week earlier.

If Malaysia continues in its trajectory of daily increase of more than 4,000 Covid-19 cases, we will be ranked No. 49 today, beating Croatia which has 234,153 cumulative total of cases as compared to Malaysia’s 231,483 Covid-19 cases.

The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is on an official visit to Indonesia and will meet the Indonesian President Joko Widodo in strict adherence to Covid-19 SOPs.

If Perikatan Nasional Ministers and political leaders had set an example of strict adherence to Covid-19 SOPs in the past year, and earned the trust and confidence of the Malaysian public in the war against Covid-19 pandemic, we would not have set the dubious world record of jumping 35 places in two-and-a-half months from the rank of No. 85 to be among the top 50 countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.

For the record, on Nov. 18, 2020, Indonesia was ranked No. 21 and now ranked No. 19, while the Philippines, the second ASEAN country with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, was ranked No. 26 on Nov. 18, 2020 and is now ranked No. 32.

At the present trajectory of increase of Covid-19 cases for Malaysia (average daily increase for the first four days of February is 4,118 cases) and Philippines (average daily increase in the first four days of February is 1,521 cases), Malaysia is likely to overtake Philippines at the end of April in cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.

Is Malaysia going to overtake Philippines as the second nation in ASEAN with the most number of cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, although we are the sixth most populous nation in ASEAN, after Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar?

Public trust and confidence in the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic has plummeted to the lowest level, as reflected in the following comment from a community activist, Dr. Mohamed Rafick Khan:

“I no longer have any faith and confidence in the way the government is managing the Covid-19 problem in Malaysia. It appears that the problem is not COVID but the government way of handling COVID. People are suffering because of inept management.”

The Chinese New Year SOP as announced by Senior Minister of Defence, Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday is one good example of such “inept management”.

Will the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, return from Indonesia fully appraised of this problem and overhaul the strategy completely to restore public confidence, trust and support?

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri