Andrew Lo
KUCHING (May 22): The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) Sarawak has demanded for leadership by example in efforts to flatten the Covid-19 pandemic curve in the country.
Its secretary Andrew Lo said until and unless the national and state political leaders step up and demonstrate leadership by example, Malaysia, including Sarawak, will not see an end to the Covid-19 pandemic any time soon.
He said MTUC Sarawak was quite amused by the Prime Minister’s announcement that the National Security Council will tighten enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0.
The Prime Minister, he noted, had inadvertently admitted that there had been loose enforcement the past 15 months.
“MTUC certainly condone any non-compliance of the standard operating procedures (SOP) and MCO.
“However we must question the many cases of Ministers and very important peoples (VIPs) that appears not to follow these restrictions and got off with a slap of the wrist, at most.
“We even have Minister that was out of the country for weeks. When questions are raised, the usual response is that they have been granted special exemptions,” he said in a statement today.
Lo said the leaders have lamented that the people are ignoring the SOP even to the point that those who are tested positive refused to show up at quarantine centres.
He pointed out that people in Bintulu have been warned not to rent their property to outsiders.
“If this is not an infringement of our constitutional right to own and profit from private property, I don’t know what it is.
“It is very sad that the Covid-19 pandemic situation is getting worse in the country especially in Sarawak,” he said
He lamented that Sarawak has recorded one of highest numbers of positive cases in the country despite the fact that it was sparsely populated.
“We can’t help but notice that the situation rapidly worsen after the front liners were criticised as being smart asses for enforcing the SOP on special invitees to a year end party.
“Despite the declaration of a State of Emergency, ostensibly to fight the pandemic, the situation has got worse, not better.
“We also note that MPs and Ministers are amongst the first to be vaccinated ahead of front liners yet Parliament was suspended,” he added.
Lo also alleged that aspiring candidates to the coming state election continue to make their rounds campaigning under pretext of distributing food aid or drain maintenance.
He believed it was the incredulous decisions like this that left Malaysians especially workers with a sense of despair.
He said workers are at the front line fighting the pandemic as health care workers, law enforcers and those in the essential and exempted services.
He believed they are working under tremendous stress and high risk of being infected with the virus, citing that in Selangor, 69 per cent of the new infections are from workplace clusters.
“Until and unless our leaders step up and demonstrate leadership by example, we do not see an end to the pandemic any time soon,” he reiterated.