#kerajaangagal79 – Convene Parliament to evoke the Dunkirk Spirit among Malaysians to unite and prevail over the Covid-19 crisis

The lament of the Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdulalh that there is heavy traffic out of Klang Valley before the total lockdown on Tuesday despite the inter-district travel ban and the fear that the health system is facing paralysis is part of a larger problem – the inability of the Muhyiddin government to restore public trust and confidence and the failure to have a “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in the 17-month war against Covid-19 pandemic.

We have not been able to evoke the” Dunkirk spirit”, the nation’s ability to come together with courage and resourcefulness to get through a crisis, because the government has become a kakistocracy and the government leaders do not inspire the people with trust and confidence.

This is why Parliament must be convened immediately, not only because the suspension of Parliament was an important reason for the failure so far to tame the Covid-19 pandemic, but because the convening of Parliament is a key initiative to restore public trust and confidence as well as to spearhead the “whole-of-society” strategy and approach so vital if we are to win the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the convening of Parliament is an occasion for evoking the Dunkirk spirit among Malaysians to unite and prevail over the Covid-19 crisis.

Malaysia broke two records yesterday – a daily increase of 9,020 new Covid-19 cases and a daily increase of 98 Covid-19 deaths, bringing the cumulative totals to 558,534 cases and 2,650 deaths.

We are now ranked No. 8 among nations with the most daily increase of new Covid-19 cases in contrast to the ranking of No. 10 the previous day.

On the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases, the United States have fallen from first ranking to No. 5th position, with a phenomenal drop of 96% yesterday from its peak of daily increase of 304,248 new Covid-19 cases on January 8, 2021. Its daily increase of 12,661 new Covid-19 cases yesterday was the lowest for more than a year - going back to March last year.

India, still No. 1 in daily increase of new Covid-19 cases, has reduced the number from the peak of 414,433 cases on May 6 by a huge 59% to 171,726 cases on May 28, 2021 – a period of some three weeks.

But the fatalities in India are still very high – over 3,000 deaths daily for over a month which included eleven days of over 4,000 fatalities, reaching a peak of 4,525 deaths on May 18.

The United States is looking for an end of the pandemic, but Malaysians expect even worse records in the coming days including five-digit numbers in daily increase of new Covid-19 cases.

What has gone wrong? Why is Malaysia doing so badly, that for the 18th consecutive day, we have a higher daily increase of new Covid-19 cases than Indonesia?

A few days ago, Malaysia was mentioned in the international media as one of the 19 countries in the company of Argentina, Colombia, Iran, Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan, Costa Rica and South Africa which can see Covid-19 pandemic reach “crisis point” as happened in India.

We are ranked No. 40 among nations with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, although we were ranked No. 85 six months ago on November 18, 2020.

In terms of new confirmed Covid-19 cases per million people yesterday, we beat India, United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, UK, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and China.

I agree with Dr Sanjay Rampal, an epidemiologist and public health expert at Universiti Malaya, who cautioned against the use of data showing that Malaysia has overtaken India in terms of confirmed Covid-19 cases per million people in order to judge the country’s healthcare system, as other factors need to be taken into consideration as well such as the low fatality rate in Malaysia as compared to India.

India, however, should be a cautionary tale not only for Indonesians but also for Malaysians as a country whose public health system collapsed during the Covid-19 pandemic and Malaysia does not want to go the way of India in this regard.