Amidst criticisms that the movement control order (MCO) was not well thought out, PM Muhyiddin Yassin appeared on the telly yesterday to plead with Malaysians to just stay home.

The Moo warned that if people didn’t follow the order, and things continued to deteriorate, the MCO could be extended beyond March. Won’t that be a bummer?

“I say this because many people returned to their hometowns last night. There is nothing wrong with going back to your hometown, but I saw highways congested with vehicles heading north, south, east and west. Bus stations were also packed with people wanting to return to their hometowns. Thousands of you. I was afraid of just looking at the crowds. Therefore, I would like to appeal to you, please, stay put where you are,” said our PM8. 

Health DG Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah went a step further, warning that of a Covid-19 “tsunami” if people didn’t adhere to the MCO. There’s only a small window of opportunity to break the transmission chain, he says. 

This MCO was put in place so people will stay home and not spread Covid-19 to others if they are infected, or get infected by others. And if people do go out, they are advised to keep a distance from others. Yet it seems there are many stubborn asses who don’t want to listen.

People are still gathering at eateries to not just take away food, but to just chill (they better pray they don’t get the real chills). Or worse yet, they continue to dine in despite the fact this is banned under the MCO. Hikers are still continuing to trek with friends. 

Thankfully, not everyone is ignorant or stubborn. KL police reported that traffic in the federal capital dropped to only 10% of the usual volume, and the world’s busiest causeway was “eerily” quiet”. 

Anyway, by-and-large, the first day of the MCO didn’t go according to plan (and neither did the day before), but we are hoping things will get better. Opposition MPs certainly took the opportunity to tell Moo and his peeps what they were doing wrong.

Klang MP Charles Santiago certainly had his say in an opinion piece in which he said the government was clueless and that they could have made things worse and helped spread Covid-19 even more because of the way they handled things. Amanah Youth basically said the same things. And both Santiago and Amanah Youth mentioned IGP Hamid Bador’s flip-flopping over inter-state travel. 

And of course, Anwar Ibrahim had to have his say. Everyone’s favourite PM-forever-in-waiting said the government needed to provide “complete and not confusing information” to the media so as to lessen the panic surrounding Covid-19. And the gomen, he says, needed to be ethical and responsible. In a later article, Anwar also called on the gomen to come up with ways to help daily wage earners as they were not “ministers with big salaries”. He should know, right? 

Some of the comments were valid, but there’s also a fair amount of politicking there and more than a little bit of an effort to make the government look bad. Ditto with this move by some opposition MPs to help elderly constituents – but if people get actual help, then please politick your little hearts out. 

And if you want a blow-by-blow account of all the missteps and fuck-ups that led us to this point, you can go through them with a fine-tooth comb here. 

Anyway, here’s a roundup of all the other bits about the MCO:

• The Education and Higher Education ministries released a list of FAQs which reversed an earlier policy.They are now telling all students, both local and foreign, to stay put instead of traveling back to their hometowns, as earlier advised. Finally, some sense!
   
• The National Security Council (NSC) says the manufacturing sector producing things deemed critical can continue to operate. Items deemed critical are: rice, sugar, bread, dairy, herbs, coffee, chicken, and beef; agriculture and fishery namely seafood, fruits, and vegetables; household goods such as toilet paper and toiletries; and pharmaceutical products. 
   
• The NSC has a full list of essential services and some non-essential services allowed to operate during the MCO. 
   
• Meanwhile, the Attorney-General’s Chambers has published a federal gazette barring individuals from traveling to Covid-19 infected areas. And it has gazetted all states and federal territories as infected areas. So what that means is STAY HOME PEEPS, cos you can’t travel nowhere. 
   
• The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry has released its own list of FAQs in regards to the food and retail sectors. 
   
• Human Resources Minister M. Saraavanan has warned employers that they must pay their workers’ salaries during the MCO. This after the Malaysian Trades Union Congress had brought up complaints that some employers were not willing to pay their employees for the two weeks’ work they would be missing. 
   
• An NGO has mooted that disciplinary action be taken against Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali for failing to invite the leaders of opposition-held states for a meeting with PM Moo over the Covid-19 measures being taken. Penang CM Chow Kon Yeow, meanwhile, has said he wasn’t interested in answering questions about Zuki’s apology as he was focused on overcoming the current medical crisis instead. 
   
• The Malaysian spirit of helping one another is, thankfully, not dead even with the widespread concern over Covid-19. A number of people have come up with initiatives to help those in need or those in the vulnerable category. And we raise our hats to these people. 
   
• The Health Ministry has labeled the MyEG Covid-19 test kit as “fake news”. MyEG, meanwhile, says it’s still awaiting approval from the ministry for the kit. It’s worrying that a company that supposedly legit would be so blatantly involved in stupid shit like this. Speaking of stupid shit, did you hear the one about the guy who said he had Covid in order to get a fake MC? Some people…
   
• And this is hilarious. Former badminton ace Lee Chong Wei is wondering why people are going crazy stockpiling toilet paper. How many buttholes does one have in order to need so much tp, he asks. Good point, Chong Wei!