KUCHING: The Malaysia Trades Union Congress (MTUC) Sarawak has urged the nation’s leaders to step up and demonstrate leadership by example to see an end to the pandemic.
Its secretary Andrew Lo claimed that there were many cases of ministers and very important persons (VIPs) that appeared not to follow the restrictions and most of the time got off with a slap of the wrist.
“We even have a 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 today.
Lo said that it is thus very sad to see that the Covid-19 pandemic is getting worse in the country especially in Sarawak.
“Sarawak has recorded one of highest numbers of positive cases in the country, even though we are sparsely populated. Despite the declaration of an 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 frontliners yet Parliament was suspended. Aspiring candidates to the state election continue to make their rounds campaigning under the pretext of distributing food aid or drain maintenance,” he pointed out.
Lo said that as such it is an incredulous decision like this that left Malaysian’s especially workers with a sense of despair.
“Workers are at the front line fighting the pandemic as health care workers, law enforcers and those in the essential and exempted services. They are working under tremendous stress and high risk of being infected with the virus. In Selangor 69 percent of the new infections are from workplace clusters,” he said.
He added that it was also amusing to see that the prime minister has inadvertently admitted that there had been loose enforcement in the past 15 months.
“So, until and unless our leaders step up and demonstrate leadership by example, we do not see an end to the pandemic any time soon,” said Lo.
