After recent news of a Covid-19 patient that admitted not going through the quarantine process, actor Jasmin Hamid had gone to call them out to stress on the severity of the issue.
Jasmin, 47, criticized the actions of said patients and called them out for being not only irresponsible but also endangering the lives of others.
She then mentioned on how this movement control order might go on if there’s more individuals as such that break the guidelines set in place by the government.
“Why are there irresponsible individuals? If you know you’re positive, please quarantine yourself befreohand because the Ministry of Health (MoH) is already not winning this battle.” she said.
“He is proud to upload his status on soclal media to let the world know that he is free to roam and spread the virus because MoH had ignored him.
“Isn’t that the end game for us that are living by the movement control order? When do we want to start being stricter at home?”
Rumor has it that the patient had done it out of protest against the Ministry of Health for not reaching out to him for further actions.
Jasmin then advised all to follow the guidelines set in place so that the government will be able to control the increasingly worrying Covid-19 pandemic. This would not only save the lives of the public but also lives of family members close to you.
“We need to work together and pray.” she said.
“Bravo to those that put themselves ahead of others, we just might be going through MCO for the rest of the year because of them”.
Since the second round of the Movement Control Order (2.0) was implemented in the entire nation except for Sarawak, Malaysians have been confused in regards to certain SOPs and have made it known on social media.
Here’s what a few of them had to say.
An edgy start would be an understatement to say the least as certain SOPs were implemented and then relaxed soon after vice versa.
It's MCO. It's Emergency. You are not allowed to travel interstate. Nor interdistrict. You must stay at home . . .
Now you're allowed to balik kampung. Until this Friday. And it's up to you whether you want to send your kids to kindergarten.
Amid the destruction caused by the pandemic, one man had actually called it way before the government had announced it.
Based on what happened in 2020, my guess is some weird form of MCO, with some confusing guidelines will be announced, which surely will raise more questions and confusion.#MCO
Delaying the inevitable has also been a common phrase lately of the handling of this pandemic.
announced mco in seremban last 2 days and then all of a sudden, the whole negeri sembilan is being locked down on 22. why not just announce mco for all negeri sembilan earlier? 🤡 confusing la
And to top it all off, Malaysians were rightfully confused and worried as here’s the daily new cases for the 24th of January.
Status Terkini #COVID19, 24 Januari 2021 Kes sembuh=4,427 Jumlah kes sembuh=141,446 kes Kes baharu positif=3,346 kes (3,339 tempatan, 7 import) Jumlah positif=183,801 Kes kematian=11 Jumlah kes kematian=678 kes Kes dirawat di ICU=265 kes Bantuan Alat Pernafasan=102 pic.twitter.com/kPAMYFVQfC
It’s been a whole year since Covid-19 first touched down on Malaysia soil, the first of many that started with three members of a family from China, a woman and her two grandchildren from Wuhan that had made the short trip to Malaysia from Singapore.
Fast forward 365 days later, it seems that we’ve seen ups and downs of various severities while we’re currently in one of the many downs – the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) itself yet once more.
The Covid-19 pandemic had spiralled out of control; back in October 2020, the record total daily new cases was 1,240 and a conditional movement control order (CMCO) imposed in Sabah and parts of Klang Valley.
It wasn’t until February and March when local clusters began to surface and breached the 2,000 mark with active cases.
Today the record high daily new cases is four times that amount, 4,275 that was recorded on the 23rd of January and of course MCO 2.0 as well.
March: Movement Control Order (MCO)
PERAK 20-03-2020. Police performed road block at Jalan Kuala Kangsar here following the movement control order tu curb the spread of Covid-19 infection.MALAY MAIL/Farhan Najib
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a nationwide movement control order on March 13th with it intended to curb the spread and enforce social distancing guidelines. By the 16 , it
was made known to the public that MCO would be in effect from the 18th until the 31st of March, it was then extended for an additional two weeks until April 14thfollowing a still constant number of high cases between the 100 and 200 mark. It was later further pushed until the April 28th and to May 12th consequently.
Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO)
After a majority of days with cases staying below the 100 mark, a conditional movement control order (CMCO) was implemented which allowed business to re-open under strict standard operating procedures (SOP).
June: An all-time low of cases leading to RMCO
MOHD SAHAR MISNI/The Star
After recording an all-time low of 2 new cases at that time on June 10th , it was decided that it was time that the nation move into recovery mode, a recovery movement control order (RMCO) that was to expire on August 31 . It was then extended until December 31st with selected sectors remained closed and travel restrictions from external countries.
July, August: A stagnantly reassuring and quiet time
SAM THAM/The Star Reporter
The first of July saw just 1 new case, yes you read that right. Cases largely remained single digits and well below the 20, 30 and 40 mark, signs were that the public were starting to regain the much needed trust in the government as they have done what they’re promised so far and days were seemingly going to be that less worrying.
September: Sabah elections
Even though many weren’t in favor to have it happen at times like this, the Sabah state election carried on as planned on September 26th . Experts are saying this is where the advantage was given back to the virus.
While many politicians and more members of the public in Sabah were out for the political campaigns, numbers were rising steadily as seen with 6 new cases on the 6th of September going up to 101 on the 29th of September even with strict SOPs in place.
On top of that, several high level-ministers and government personnel were questioned for not being in quarantine after travelling throughout states for election and governmental affairs. There was also the case of Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali flouting a 2-week quarantine upon returning from Turkey, which sparked the talk of how the government is practicing a double-standard with the strict SOPs in place.
October: Post-Sabah elections
(STAND ALONE) Party worker putting up party flag and poster party flag during Sabah Election. — ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE/The Star
The country’s fight against the pandemic took a turn for the worst as clusters in Sabah began emerging after the state election, positive daily cases in Sabah took off with 118 at the beginning of October to having 957 at the turn of November and bringing the total cases in Sabah itself to 15,692, more than half of the total positive cases in the country.
Another surge was also taking place in Selangor with the current total number going up as high as 5,000 positive cases in the state itself.
November: Back to square one: CMCO and EMCO
Total positive cases in the country have gone past the 30,000 mark and the CMCO is already implemented in Sabah, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya; this also has been extended by another two weeks until Nov 9th.
EMCO has been declared in three villages in Kudat, Sabah, namely Kampung Pengaraban, Kampung Tanjung Kapur and Kampung and Landong Ayang, starting on Oct 30 to Nov 12.
December: A different Christmas and New Year
As Malaysia overtook China in the number of total reported cases, one of the most festive times of the year was abruptly cancelled and rightfully so. A record high on New Year’s Eve itself of 2,525 new cases, near half of it was in the state of Selangor which had now leapfrogged Sabah into the state with most reported cases.
January 2021: MCO 2.0 and Breaking Records for All The Wrong Reasons
The nation went from a second implementation of MCO in certain states at first to now all of Malaysia, except for Sarawak.
Due to end on February 4th, none are even sure anymore if it’ll actually end there as daily new cases have been in the 3,000 and 4,000 margin since the turn of the year with a new record set every few weeks.
Did we also mention that the King had called a national emergency? Hence, the full circle of Covid-19 in Malaysia has now been completed.
The first automated rapid transit (ART) system has arrived in Johor and soon to be set for a bus pilot testing program in Iskandar Malaysia.
According to the 51-49 joint-venture group, Mobilus Sdn Bhd (Ireka Corp Bhd and CRRC Urban Traffic Co Ltd, member of the CRRC Group), this testing comes after its original 2020 schedule was delayed due to the pandemic and is to cover a network of more than 2,000km in Phase 1.
“The arrival of the ART is a great step forward for our urban transportation business in the year ahead.” said Ireka group managing director Lai Voon Hon.
“The planning for the ART Bus Pilot Testing Programme in Iskandar Malaysia, which will showcase seven other bus manufacturers, is well underway after some delays due to the pandemic in 2020, and now we hope to have the project up and running by early 2021”.
ART is medium-capacity transit system for urban usage, and the vehicle are manufactured by the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRRC), which had previously worked on the KTM intercity vehicles.
Penang had considered the system back in 2018 but eventually kept it in consideration and continued their search for a better train system instead
First presented by CRRC in 2017, the ART system was described as a “crossover between a train, a bus and a tram”. The trains are rail-less and measures up to 30 metres, features three carriages and runs on rubber tyres than rails.
A 10-minute charge on each of the vehicle’s batteries can last up to 24km for 300 passengers in three vehicles which is also expandable to 500 in 5 vehicles.
Other than the pilot testing program, the Malaysia Institute of Transport (MITRANS) and Universiti Tecknologi MARA will be conducting a technical feasibility study. At the end of the study and testing period, a feasible report will be available to the adoption of ART as a new urban transport system.
ART is currently being adopted cities across China such as Yibin, Sichuan. The T1 line which is the first of seven in the city was launched in December 2019 and runs 17.7km through central Yibin and connects to the high-speed railway terminus in the city.
Reports say that the system is used by more than 25,000 daily commuters and has reduced traffic congestion by 20% in the city.
The whole of Peninsular Malaysia is currently under the second implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO), but decorations for the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday are still being put up in shopping malls although lacking in shoppers.
With high spikes of cases in states such as Selangor and Sabah, Malaysians are advised to rightly stay home and to refrain from any shopping trips that they may have planned prior to the festive day.
A local photographer decided to document this event even though if it means taking pictures of largely empty malls with no subject to keep his lens on. With his trusted iPhone 12 Pro Max and a tripod, Siva Kumar went out on a mission to highlight the major change the pandemic has done to once bustling shopping malls.
Suria KLCC
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Pavillion
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Publika
Siva KumarSiva Kumar
These images show malls around Malaysia who are donning the usual Chinese New Year decorations at this time of month and how the consequences of the pandemic can clearly be seen in terms of business that just not having the foot traffic that they used to have.
Others
Siva KumarSiva KumarSiva KumarSiva Kumar
With majority of us unable to witness the festivity of the new year in person yet, this is perhaps the closest we could get to visualising what Chinese New Year could’ve been, for now.
As 400,000 students return to school to begin their classes yet again for 2021, the youths are using social media to voice out their concerns of doing so in the midst of a pandemic.
Coming behind the hashtag #SuaraPelajar, students expressed their frustrations, concerns and the balance of education and future as they returned to school during this MCO 2.0.
A day after schools were reopened, 18 SPM and STPM students checking in to a school hostel were found to be positive during screening; the next day the total was 36 cases for students in Sabah returning to school hostels.
Muar MP Syed Saddiq who is active on Twitter was quick to share his view of the issue and had also called for help to gather #SuaraPelajar on Padlet. Other than that, he had utilized #KlusterPelajar in a bid to make the student’s thoughts be known at a higher level.
Ini yang berlaku apabila Menteri Pendidikan culas & tak dengar suara pelajar.
Saya terima lebih 200+ aduan dalam Padlet. Tak sampai sejam.
Here’s what one student had to say about the whole going back to school situation on Padlet.
“I think i can count with one hand how many days that i slept without tears. We stuck at school while the whole country is having pkp” one comment said.
“Maybe we like a small piece yg tak akan effect future pon kalua kitorg tak take spm. But we have a life”.
Some also took to Twitter to share their thoughts.
How can KPM play with the lives of so many students?
In the middle of an emergency, with Covid-19 cases at an all-time high, you’re sending students to school without testing.
The timeliness of the announcement and lack of time for students to prepare was also one of the many things highlighted.
As an SPM student of 2020, I think an important issue is that the KPM SHOULD INFORM US OF A PLAN AHEAD OF TIME. The 03’s right now are betting whether SPM will happen or not, like this is some kind of gamble, so don’t be surprised if most of us just half-ass SPM #SuaraPelajar
The government recently announced that it does not rule out the possibility of amending the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 or Act 355 in order to prosecute members of the LGBT community more harshly.
According to Ahmad Marzuk, the deputy minister in the prime minister’s department of religious affairs, the current sentence which provides three years of prison time, RM5,000 fine and six cane strokes is considered to be not effective on people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transexual (LGBT).
According to reports by Free Malaysia Today (FMT), he told reporters that this amendment should be deemed necessary and stern action has been taken upon those who do not dress according to their gender.
“All state religious agencies and enforcers have been instructed to take action against those (LGBT) who do not behave accordingly,” he said.
He added that it’s important that “their wrongdoings” are addressed as well.
Here’s how Malaysians reacted to the news.
LET'S REMEMBER our LGBT frontliners in Malaysia. Our LGBT doctors, nurses, cleaners, delivery people. They work so hard to protect this country even when the country refuses to protect them. And how do we thank them? By wanting to punish them even more. Why, Malaysia, why?
Some also highlighted the issue of child marriage, minimum wage, and the government’s lacking towards fixing these issues instead.
Child marriage is still legal in Malaysia. Rapist doesn’t get enough punishments. Poverty, minimum wage… so much probs but u guys will only attack lgbt. This just shows how stupid yall can be https://t.co/JyWAgdyWhy
Others also input their opinions to “support and respect” or “don’t support but respect nonetheless”.
we know support lgbt is haram but atleast show some respect. they're human too, deserve to treat like human but how ppl who close minded treat them just 💩 ik lgbt is haram atleast show some respect they are human not manusia yg jijik omg i cant with malaysia very close minded https://t.co/imqPAOoXPX
So the hot thing rn is about the law about LGBT community in Malaysia. And I just don't get it. Malaysia is a muslim country. Like I said before I don't support the community but I respect them as human being and other muslim should do the same too.
We get it, we’re all frustrated about the re-implementation of MCO all over again, but nobody was more frustrated than Twitter user, @yarafaee_, the author behind a cultural masterpiece.
A hungry Malaysian can get pretty sketchy, but one who is working In the food industry can themselves get sketchier when more than half of the whole country are coming in with their orders.
Pukimak dah 2 kali takda dinner, food order problem padahal 5pm dah order, other options dah tak sempat skrg. Bodoh punya ismail sabri ko balik rumah maid dah siap serve dinner boleh la kecik2 tak nak mampos dah besar bengap anak pulak jd artis sendu mulut kecik mcm lubang juboq
— dari kampung dengan cinta dalam dada ada api (@farhanazahan) January 17, 2021
It started when a local @farhanazahan was complaining about how there were problems with his food delivery order. He had placed his order at 5pm as other options weren’t going to make his order in time. After that, he went on inputting about how ministers had not worry like him as they had servants to prepare food for them once they’re home.
This triggered a response from @puterirajawan who entered the conversation with her saying she don’t understand how people can make an issue out of the slightest mishap. She then said that @farhanazahan should instead order earlier as certain food delivery companies stop receiving orders at 7pm.
I tak paham orang yang buat masalah out of everything, next time order awal. Foodpanda /grab i think 7+ baru they tak terima order. You tau you balik kerja lambat, you order lah one day before pastu letak ler dalam fridge. Esok reheat je lah. If theres a will theres a way bro
She ended the reply with saying that if you know that you are going home late, you’re better off ordering one day ahead and to leave your meal in the refrigerator.
Now this is where @yarafaee_ comes in with the infamous #sibodohkaudengarsini.
si bodoh, kau dengar sini. dengan business hour from 11-8pm tu seluruh rakyat malaysia ni order in between that time only tau. kau tau tak sampai hang machine foodpanda/grab tu? orang balik kerja takde masa nak masak sebab awal pagi esok dah kena pergi kerja balik
She started with the phrase before moving on to explaining that with most business hours go from 11am to 8pm and the whole of Malaysia is placing their orders between this time. She then said that the number of orders sometimes even make the order-taking machines and equipment go haywire.
Instead of blaming it on the people to find a way, she suggested then @puterirajaawan took her comments to the government instead on how operating hours should be extended as the current ones are more likely to make the staff and cooks more stressed.
For two whole days, #SiBodohKauDengarSini was trending on Twitter and as of Tuesday night, has been tweeted 62,000 times.
Soon after, Malaysians everywhere were taking the hashtag out of context to use in their own and various ongoing situations.
#SiBodohKauDengarSini We are having a massive health crisis and people can't even order their food, riders are probably at risk of transmission with every turn, people are losing their jobs, rapidly decreasing beds for COVID-19 patients and you go after LGBT PEOPLE. Irrational.
Bali is a top tourist destination spot for many, especially for those coming from the Western world who are in search of that white sand blue sea exotic experience, but a recent Twitter thread wrote by an American woman about her move to Bali had sparked accusations of her being tone-deaf.
A so called “digital nomad”, @kristentootie who has now went private on Twitter, intended the thread to be a guide to “how you can thrive in life”, but turned out to show the privilege she holds on to as it starts out with one simple step – book a one-way flight to Bali. She also boasts of the island she has been as she built her own graphic design business and live in a “treehouse”.
She then described this experience as the “perfect medicine” for her physical and emotional health and went on to list the benefits of living here such as, safety, low cost of living, luxury lifestyle, and the acceptance towards LGBT people.
She has since locked her account after backlash against her utilizing her privileges and also being guilty of gentrification.
I get it, the weather's nice, the living cost is cheap, the smoothie bowls are $4, but telling people to go here illegaly while providing links? Yo :/ why? My country is getting through over 800k cases of COVID, you're telling people to come over and kill us basically?
The Bali discourse is a great reminder that as oppressed as many of us, we are unaware of the privileges we have and some are incapable of thinking beyond the story we’ve told ourselves. A triple minority in the US but yes you’re a colonizer in Bali. Acknowledge your privilege
Apart from that, the thread is also problematic for a number of reasons which includes the mis-labelling of Bali as LGBT-friendly when in reality, locals who are part of that community live in constant fear and are targeted by authorities and groups.
Her perception of a so called “low cost living” may be affordable for a foreigner as she talks of the US$400 rent, but little did she know that the provincial minimum wage is only about US$177.
What’s more disturbing is that she also encourages people to work their way around imposed travel restrictions during this whole pandemic to visit Bali, especially when Indonesia is trying to control the pandemic themselves.
Even though the pandemic is well present in Indonesia, she mentioned of staying there ever since the pandemic began there in March, as her plans “went out the window”.
Native SE Asians have been talking about foreign expats for YEARS and the only reason why folks haven’t seen the discourse is bc
1. Most Americans don’t care about what’s going on in other countries
2. The discourse isn’t happening in English, it’s happening in local languages
Why is it that Developed Countries digital nomads can come to SEA easily but me a full time journalist with the correct visa kept getting interrogated every time I visit the USA to attend media events? Gotta show where I’m staying, show my credentials, return tickets etc? pic.twitter.com/vq41UCx9q1
While official policies may take sometime to take place especially during this pandemic, locals on Twitter sure weren’t waiting around to see privileged folk run their country dry of the resources.
The second round of the Movement Control Order (MCO) is again in place to curb the ever-dreadful daily new cases which are surging at a worrying state.
Selangor who is the state with the highest total along with Penang, Melaka, Johor, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan are all to go through this until January 26th; nobody is ensured that this would all end at that time as we continue to see cases coming in by the thousands, even seeing 4,000 at one point.
While majority of us continue to stay apart and work from home, cities and streets have been left empty; what was usually packed with cars and pedestrians are now similar to dead towns seen in movies. Here’s how those said states looked like during the first week of MCO 2.0.
