The right dose.

 Mon May 31, 2021.

Tomorrow we start the new "complete" lockdown for 2 weeks. Again.

As the government gropes and fumbles for ways and means of  controlling the pandemic, the virus, like gravity, is relentless. I say like gravity because it's permanently there. You bend down, or reach out, and you lose balance, down you go. Lock down, close shop, stay put, but the virus doesn't care. It finds its way. If the barrier put up is porous, leaky, it finds its way even easier.

The groping and fumbling government  may not be even facing in the right direction.  Case in point. The LRT crash in the tunnel. To force social spacing, the occupancy is reduced. But to do that it reduced the frequency. Perhaps less frequent equals less people in them. But actually less coaches means more pile up.  It should have been more coaches to allow for less crowding, a complete opposite action.

Stupid, or crazy Tajuddin, the Prasarana chairman who was kicked out after the disasterous press conference, is an example of the fumblings of the government - in making stupid or crazy appointments for  GLC's. Stupid might be not so dangerous, though it's bad enough. Crazy is another thing. Tajuddin thought he was funny when he said the trains "kissed" each other. 200 lives were put into grave danger after being hurt, and many are still in critical condition. Fatal is not funny. Crazy !

Statistics are statistics. What did Mark Twain say ? There are lies, and there are statistics. But these figures flouted around by both those who don't know and those who know, must mean something. Something about the subject at hand , as well as something about the gatherer of the numbers. Are the gathering of the numbers exhaustive and accurate ? Right now Malaysia is the champion in terms of the "per million" affliction ratio. Is the figure for India and China accurate ? Swaths of geography may be uncovered by the enumerator. Like in remote Indonesia. Or even Alaska.  Accurate, it means Malaysia is in deep shit. Not accurate, it means India and others like that are in deeper shit.

Selangor is Malaysian champion now. But that's to be expected. Most of the industries, most of the foreigners and most of the total population are in Selangor. The fear is, are the numbers accurate ? My fear is, they are under-reported.

In the mean time, the government also fumbles badly on the vaccination issue. The supply is one thing. When neighbouring Singapore settled that question months ago, we're still in the dark about ours. Not just "how much", but also "which make". In brand-conscious Malaysia, "which make" is very important. "Brand conscious" ?  Until recently Malaysians  refer to toothpaste as "Colgate"! 

Many Malays in Peninsula Malaysia are not "vaccination-friendly". That knowledge I am party to. My feeling is, many others - Chinese, Indians, and Sabah-Sarawakians, are the same, although I have no personal examples. Some Muslim religious groups also throw doubt about "halal-haram" issues and the social distancing "man-made" order. Terengganu and Kelantan clusters are proofs of that unkind proposition.

Decades ago we had the small-pox innoculation enforced on all children, and those old enough still carry the scars on their upper arms. The scurvy that caused illness and deaths on sailors  before the turn of the century were finally stopped with vitamin C. But the small-pox innoculations and the vitamin C's  were after years of tests. Covid 19 vaccines are as new as the pandemic itself. The very different effectiveness, even reports of very grave side-effects, of the many makes now produced (not necessarily available - this apparently depends on how "Western" and wealthy your country is, with the exception of China) doesn't make things easier for anybody.

As a Muslim, I'm comfortable with the knowledge that the Holy Quran says "to every diesease there is a cure". And  the Prophet SAW said "when there is epidemic (cholera) don't cross borders". Vaccines have been found, effective or not.  Cross-border orders have been implemented, effective or not.  These point in the right direction, in terms of human endeavour.  Effctive implementation and proper plans are two very different propositions in Malaysia, however. They ought to follow each other, but not necessarily here.  The government behaves haphazardly, overturning decisions almost immediately. The virus waits for no one. That is the reality. The people is a herd that needs herding. But the herder is not herding. Not in a decisive way. They're behaving like politicians first, and responsible leaders last. Right now they're on top of each other. The followers must behave in the right way, scientifically speaking. We can make changes when the time comes. The right dose will be needed.

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