Agony to see Malaysia’s slow reduction of daily new Covid-19 cases struggling to go below the 4,000-case figure while Indonesia has been recording triple-digit numbers for 12 consecutive days

It is an agony to see Malaysia’s slow reduction of daily new Covid-19 cases struggling to go below the 4,000-case figure while Indonesia, with more than eight times the population of Malaysia, has been recording triple-digit numbers for 12 consecutive days.

It is a dire warning of the signs of the times - the slackening competitiveness of the Malaysian economy as compared to Indonesia, and the narrowing of the gap in democratic freedoms, the rule of law and good governance between the two countries.

Malaysia has Rukun Negara and Indonesia has Pancasila – why are the two countries diverging, with Indonesia going forwards while Malaysia going backwards.

Is one reason because Pancasila in Indonesia is a living document, while more and more Malaysians, including Ministers, have refused to accept the nation-building principles of Rukun Negara?

The new Health Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, must take serious action in view of Malaysia’s poor performance in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic as compared to Indonesia, which recorded 611 daily new Covid-19 cases and 35 Covid-19 deaths yesterday, as compared to 5,726 new Covid-19 cases and 84 deaths (including 20 Brought-in-Dead BID deaths) for Malaysia.

At the rate that the daily new Covid-19 cases are oscillating at the four-digit mid-levels, nobody would dare to predict when they would fall to three-digit numbers.

The same is also true of Covid-19 deaths, which continues at the high level of double-digit figures. When will it come down to single-digit numbers?

Also, what action has Khairy taken to rectify this serious drop in performance by the Malaysian public health system as compared to Indonesia?

Will this be reflected in the 2022 Budget which will be presented to Parliament by the Finance Minister, Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz on Friday?