EYE-brows were raised when Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin lambasted rich countries for vaccine hoarding, describing the act as “cruel and unjust” against poor and less developed countries.

The Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister drew similarity to the act with a scene from the Titanic where the ship was sinking and the rich people in the first class had the priority boarding the lifeboats.

”Poor countries, less developed countries, are left to drown. That is what is happening today,” Khairy said at the launch of Malaysia Aviation Group’s (MAG) sustainability blueprint here on Wednesday (June 23).

But in a highly charged political atmosphere, Khairy found himself under fire, with his detractors saying he was merely shifting attention from the criticism against him for the slow rollout of the vaccination exercise.

The National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) was also rapped for its giving conditional approval for the CanSino vaccine and not approving Sinopharm and Sputnik vaccines. In reality, Singapore has also not approved these vaccines.

Singapore is only providing Pfizer and Moderna while the private sector is allowed to give Sinovac, which comes from government stock purchases some time ago.

The European Union Ambassador to Malaysia Michalis Rokas was quick to refute Khairy’s statement, saying the EU (European Union) had shipped 4.087 million Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses and approved the export of another five million doses for Malaysia.

”By June 21, five million doses have been approved for exportation and 4,087,000 doses have been effectively transported already by June 15.

”These numbers concern doses manufactured by Pfizer, and to these exports, I should also add that the EU has already manufactured and already shipped 560,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the Covax scheme,” Rokas said.

But Rokas wasn’t addressing the statement made by Khairy, who was talking about poor and less developed countries as a whole.

Is it merely the politicians capitalising on public anger without providing real answers? Let’s look at the facts and figures.

Khairy isn’t wrong.

The Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister isn’t the only politician who has complained about vaccine hoarding. On Wednesday, Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen also expressed the same sentiment.

Even the rich nations were putting conditions for supplying vaccines to other countries, Momen reportedly told journalists at his ministry office in Dhaka after a weeklong visit to the United States.

Without naming any country or the conditions, he said, “They’re seeking this or that in return.”

In March, The Guardian reported that rich countries with 14 per cent of the world’s population had secured 53 per cent of the best vaccines.

Almost all Pfizer/BinNTech vaccines will go to rich countries, the United Kingdom newspaper reported.

”The Moderna vaccine will go to rich countries exclusively; it is not even being offered to the poor. In fact, nine out of 10 people in poor countries may never be vaccinated at all. Washington is sitting on vaccines making sure no one gets any while the US needs them. The European Union has exported 34 million doses to, of all places, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong – countries that have no problem sourcing or paying for vaccines.

”In fact, the EU sent about nine million doses to the United Kingdom, a country which, no longer in the EU, also has what amounts in practice to an export ban of its own, official denials notwithstanding,”

It’s unlikely that Moderna’s chief executives feel bad about the unvaccinated poor. The company forecast sales of over USD$18bil (RM74.96bil) for 2021, pushing Moderna into profit for the first time since its founding 11 years ago. Pfizer hasn’t done too poorly either; they’re expecting a cool USD$15bil (RM62.47bil) in sales.

South Africa, the African continent’s worst-hit country, is buying AZ (AstraZeneca) at nearly two and a half times higher than the per-unit price of European countries.

In short – the vaccines are not being sold at standard prices. It also depends on the volume that a country has ordered, which will, for example, put Malaysia having less bargaining clout with our small population.

The Guardian reported that European countries were buying doses below the supposed cap of €2.50 (RM12.43) and “African countries far above it”. In contrast, Canada has purchased more doses per head than anyone else – enough to vaccinate every single Canadian five times over. But the entire continent of Africa – home to 1.3 billion people – has been allocated a total of only 300 million doses.

As of the first week of January, only 25 vaccines had been administered in all of sub-Saharan Africa. Yes – dua puluh lima (twenty-five).

While many Malaysians were praising Israel for administering 150,000 doses of vaccine a day, it was not widely reported that the Palestinians, whose land it occupied, were left out.

Last week, it was widely reported in the Arab media that the first batch of Pfizer vaccines that the Palestinians received did not conform to specifications. The 90,000 doses that were supposed to expire in July or August turned out to expire in June.

The BBC has also reported about the predicament faced by the poor countries.

Since December, it has been reported that rich countries are hoarding doses of Covid vaccines and “people living in poor countries are set to miss out”, according to a coalition of campaigning bodies.

The People’s Vaccine Alliance, a movement of health and humanitarian organisations, says nearly 70 lower-income countries will only be able to vaccinate one in 10 people.

This is despite AZ pledging to provide 64% of its doses to people in developing nations, it said.

”And even though rich nations represent just 14% of the world’s population, they have bought up 53% of the most promising vaccines so far, according to data from eight leading vaccine candidates in Phase 3 trials that have done substantial deals with countries worldwide,” it said.

What about the EU? Well, it has secured 900 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine and reserved an option to buy 900 million more to be delivered by 2023.

In short – while most developing countries are struggling to give the first jab, the EU is ready for the booster jabs, in case the third shots are needed.

That gives the EU as many as 3 billion secured doses, or 6.6 per person, without accounting for the optioned ones,” Quartz reported.

It said, “excess vaccines give wealthy countries power over those dependent on donations in order to immunise their citizens. Many countries are using vaccines as a diplomatic tool, donating them in order to strengthen—or form—international alliances. China has excelled at this but the United States is catching up.”

So, Taiwan – the US ally – snubbed China-made vaccines and waited for the vaccines, and naturally, Taiwan got what it wanted for being supportive of Washington DC.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s Temasek-led investor group injected USD$250mil (RM1.04bil) into the German biotech firm through a private placement last June. In short, it has a stake in the vaccine manufacturing company.

Yes, Malaysia should have done better in procuring the vaccines and even expedited the vaccination exercise.

But countries are at the mercy of the manufacturers and the rich countries. They decide who should get it and how much.

If there is any comfort to the European countries, which have been accused of hoarding, they, too, have taken legal action against AZ for failing to deliver the vaccines on time.

Still, while developing countries struggle to give their people the first vaccination, the rich countries hoard the vaccines for booster shots. The third injections are needed to fight the different variants.

THERE is a lot of unhappiness on the ground. The extension of the lockdown has not surprisingly gone down badly, with most Malaysians grappling with the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

Many have lost their jobs or will lose them soon. Their loan-servicing has gone bad, and putting food on the table has become increasingly difficult, especially for daily wage earners.

For many small businessmen, their businesses have folded up and it can only get worse.

It’s a tough call for the Prime Minister. He is caught in a perfect political storm as his opponents step up their criticism of his handling of Covid-19, which continues to hover at around five thousand cases a day.

If he had decided to be a populist by ending the lockdown, he would have been attacked viciously for being irresponsible.

His decision has also been greeted unhappily, but I am sure he would not want Malaysia to go the way of India where the health system collapsed.

It’s a lousy time to be a Prime Minister everywhere, but those who have managed to take their countries back to normalcy will earn political dividends even though they started badly, like in the United Kingdom.

The key here is vaccination. Malaysia needs to achieve this as fast as possible. The government needs to set their target ahead of time, and it’s best we hit herd immunity before the year is out.

We can’t afford to have more lockdowns. Malaysia will crumble because we do not have the financial means to cushion our economy. For example, those who have lost their jobs will not get paid benefits for furloughs, unlike rich countries.

Singapore has taken the right approach – the Covid-19 pandemic is here to stay, and we must learn to live with it.

But it has been able to do so because it has successfully won the fight, and most Singaporeans and expatriates have been vaccinated.

The island republic’s plan is simple. Get vaccinated and live with it, but no date has been fixed for this plan. Officials also plan to loosen travel restrictions, gathering limits and social distancing requirements to fully vaccinated individuals. In addition, it has been reported that Covid-19 testing will shift from being used for quarantines to being used for ensuring social activities can happen safely.

Singapore is a disciplined country, it is run systematically. Its politicians don’t run foul by breaking standard operating procedures (SOPs) which they are supposed to uphold.

What is not said is that Singapore is preparing itself for the reopening of the country and the plans are being laid out now.

It has a plan, for sure, but a few details are being floated to see the reactions to the move. Singapore does not talk first and work out the plans later.

Their ministers have also written carefully crafted opinions in newspapers to share their plans instead of speaking off the cuff, unlike some of our ministers, and sometimes, making a mockery of themselves.

We do not need a political science professor to tell us there is a trust deficit among Malaysians.

And while Singapore has devoted itself to reopening the economy, our politicians are devoted to the reopening of the Parliament. Most of us have suddenly become Constitution experts, rightly or wrongly.

So, if we are unhappy with the nationwide lockdown, what do we want the government to do? Shooting off toxic messages in social media, with name-calling, will help release steam, but it won’t help.

Maybe for a start, we should suggest that the government allow states which have seen a drop in the number of cases to move on to phase two of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).

Half of the daily Covid cases are from Selangor, but it has also taken a slight dip as of Monday (June 28). Perlis has five, Terengganu 23, Penang 88 and even Kelantan has 101.

Yes, we cannot take our foot off the brakes, but a more flexible approach needs to be considered.

Businesses regarded as non-essential need to be reopened as the owners are in danger of losing their contracts and even sued if they cannot fulfil them. The losers will be the factory workers.

Our governments have not explained well why some factories are allowed to operate and have caused questions to be raised, even of a racial tone.

The reason is simple – our country’s exports are at risk, and these factories employ hundreds of thousands of workers, both Malaysian and foreign.

To encourage vaccinations and for the economy to reboot, those who have had the two doses should be allowed to travel out of state without permits and attend places of worship.

The most asked question is this – after a lockdown of two weeks, the number of infections has not gone down. After the extension, what happens if the numbers remain the same and even if it hovers around 4,000, it is not something to celebrate.

According to the NRP, we will then proceed to phase two, where some sectors will reopen although large gatherings will still be banned.

Seriously, it’s time we look at the worst-case scenario and prepare for that situation.

Perhaps, it isn’t easy to make the forecast even though there are projections. That also explains why announcements are made late.

Japan has found itself in the same predicament.

Case numbers in Tokyo have been creeping up over the past week since Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga lifted the state of emergency imposed to rein in infections. Any sharp increase could mean the emergency is reintroduced, further restricting residents’ activities even while the Olympics are taking place.

He reportedly said the government must be on high alert as cases begin to rise in the capital, about three weeks before Tokyo hosts the summer games.

”While there is a downward trend across the country as a whole, there is a slight upward trend in the capital region,” Suga told reporters Monday (June 28).

”We must be on a high state of alert in dealing with the virus.” He added that he would be nimble in adjusting policies to deal with the situation.

The seven-day moving average of new infections recorded in Tokyo rose to 477 on Sunday (June 27), compared with 388 the previous week.

In Sydney, millions of residents began the first full day of a two-week coronavirus lockdown on Sunday as Australia imposed new restrictions to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

Australia’s northern city of Darwin also entered a separate snap 48-hour lockdown on Sunday after a handful of cases were linked to a coronavirus outbreak at a remote gold mine.

In Jakarta, there have been calls for a lockdown after 30 doctors died of Covid-19 this month as the country battles a second wave of the disease driven by the Delta variant.

This last lockdown should have ended, but it hasn’t. Let this one be the last by working hard on it.

If the pandemic doesn’t kill us, our politicians will.

AS a rookie reporter jumping into the job at The Star more than 35 years ago, the first thing the news editor sent me out for was to cover the courts. I had to learn the basic laws, he said.

I also had to be accurate in my reporting because there was nothing worse than being reprimanded by the magistrate, or judge, the next day in open court.

Everyone in the room, including the accused in the dock, would stare at you. And for the errant journalist, if that happens, he might prefer to be swallowed up by the earth.

But it also taught me to summarise cases – from a stack of court documents with all the legal jargon – into a simple readable news report.

I learned the various levels of the court hierarchy, and words like charge sheet, case management, heard in camera, sub judice, ex-parte, locus standi, habeas corpus, remand, letters of demand and discharge not amounting to an acquittal, among others.

There were many lawyers who patiently listened to this young, exasperated reporter on the phone as he struggled with his copy in the newsroom.

My next beat was crime reporting, where I learned even more. Soon, all the stuff I found out from American TV series turned out to be useless because they were not applicable in our police stations.

My editor reminded me that while these people may have been arrested, they had yet to be charged. They could even be released eventually. So, it was important that they were not named in my news reports.

But if it involved public figures and of public interest, exemptions would be made.

Also, we live in Malaysia. So, we will not reveal the race of the culprit and the victim, particularly in rape or assault cases, although in police reports, race is still requisite data.

It was drummed into my heart (and head) that we should never start a racial riot, because that’s the last thing we need the newspaper to be accused of. Keep race out of it.

But here’s my point – more and more reporters entering the profession have now been exempted from these two important beats, court and crime, so, they have missed out on important elements of news writing.

That deficiency is more prevalent in news portals, where most reporters devote their entire coverage to political news. And like bees to honey, more untrained writers have surfaced in these portals.

Over the past week, an article made its rounds and was shared by many Malaysians, in which the writer questioned why Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and other senior politicians, have yet to be sent to jail.

The argument went further that if one senior politician is sent to jail for corruption, his peers and possibly himself, in this case the Prime Minister, would be in deep trouble.

Claiming it was a case of “member jaga member,” it was implied that no one from Umno wants to start a precedent.

In our Malaysian legal system, which is based on the British model, a person has the right to appeal against his conviction until the Federal Court (the highest court) makes the final verdict.

So, Datuk Seri Najib Razak – or anyone else, including Opposition politicians – won’t begin to serve his conviction by the High Court, for example, until he has exhausted his legal avenues.

Many have asked why Najib is still being given this privilege of walking around freely when he was found guilty in the SRC International trial last year. The case is now at the Court of Appeal.

However, many Umno leaders have gone to jail. They include former Selangor Mentri Besar Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo, who was stripped of his Datukship, and the late Datuk Mokhtar Hashim, who was Youth and Sports Minister.

In 1976, former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Harun Idris was also jailed for corruption.

At the Federal Court, no new evidence will be entertained, so lawyers and prosecutors will only argue on the points of the law.

So, there’s no such thing as a surprise witness dramatically appearing with new-found evidence as the courtroom gasps in surprise, like in a Korean drama.

In the United States, the accused is immediately marched into prison while awaiting appeals, which can take a long time.

Closer to home, in the Philippines, the police even parade those they have arrested at press conferences before sending them to court, and in Thailand, suspects have to re-enact their actions, including murders, before the public and media.

There’s one more point – those on death row are not immediately executed. Sometimes, it takes years, and they still have a final appeal, where the Ruler of the state in which the crime was committed decides to pardon the convict.

Najib still gets to enjoy the services of a team of bodyguards and a police escort with sirens blaring because he remains a former PM. But one thing is certain – he can’t contest in the next general election.

The law says an individual fined more than RM2,000 or sentenced to more than a year’s jail, won’t be allowed to be an election candidate for federal seats, even if there are ongoing appeals because this law comes into effect immediately.

But as MP, Najib can still attend Parliament, apart from keeping himself busy as Bosku on social media, because the vacation of such a seat would only happen if the appeals have been exhausted and the conviction is upheld by the appellate courts.

Learning the ropes at the courthouse has helped me learn some basic laws. I also learned that if you asked 10 lawyers for a certain interpretation of the law, you’ll get 10 different views, especially if they represent a client.

Try seeking an opinion now on who has the right to call for Parliament to reconvene during an Emergency.

It usually starts with “but I beg to differ.”

LONG Lamai, a remote village in Sarawak probably does not ring a bell with most Malaysians.

Most of us would not even care about this remote Penan settlement, located near the borders of Sarawak and Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The village is only accessible by a 90-minute flight from Miri to Long Banga, followed by a 60-minute boat ride. Miri is a coastal city located at the north west of Sarawak.

To drive to Miri from Long Lamai would take 10 hours, excluding a two-hour boat ride from Long Puah.

Now, it has become a subject of discussion between the state authorities and Health Ministry in Putrajaya following a Covid-19 outbreak.

The whole village has been placed under enforced movement control order (EMCO) after a woman from the village, reportedly went to Miri to attend her mother’s funeral two weeks ago.

She was tested positive for the virus after her trip. So was a driver who accompanied her.

Soon, villagers were sharing with church and welfare groups that they were coughing and had lost their taste buds, all signs of Covid-19 symptoms. That was when alarm bells started.

Of the more than 300 villagers in Long Lamai, 31 are said to have tested positive following a swab test.

The village is now reportedly monitored by a medical team from Miri Health Office and Miri Hospital as well as three police personnel from Marudu district police headquarters, according to a news report.

A quarantine and treatment centre has also been set up.

Incredibly, when the matter was first brought up, there were denials, even from Mulu assemblyman Datuk Gerawat Gala, who refuted a message that was widely circulated on WhatsApp about the outbreak.

He told the local press that only some villagers were affected, denying claims it was widespread.

It was a classic case of a politician wanting to downplay an incident instead of seeking more details and trying to get help. There were even initial accusations of fake news when it first surfaced.

The truth soon came out. If it wasn’t serious, then there would be no need for an EMCO, right? Providing more information would help as in all crisis management.

Haven’t politicians learned from one Member of Parliament, who was recently sacked as chairman of a government body, after describing a train collision as “normal”?

The village has no clinic and those in need of medical aid would go to the nearest clinic at Long Banga, about two hours’ away by boat.

The point is this – no one is spared from the scourge of Covid-19. Not even the Penans, a nomadic indigenous group living in Sarawak and Brunei. There are about 16,000 of them in these two places.

They are shy, by nature, but friendly and the last group of Malaysians who remain true to their lifestyle, mainly hunters and gatherers.

I had the opportunity of spending time with these people, after taking an eight-hour drive from Miri via treacherous logging tracks to Lusong Laku, and saw what is probably the most unknown but the biggest waterfall in this country.

Those of us who live in cities demand speedier vaccination, but no doubt our frontliners are having a difficult, and I’m sure frustrating, time persuading these minorities to be tested and to accept the vaccine.

Two ministers – Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, who are MPs from Pahang and Kelantan respectively, have shared how communities in remote areas needed to be convinced.

Even Orang Asli broadcasts and several dialects are being used to approach them.

Many of us would be shocked to learn that the elderly Orang Asli cannot recall having taken any injections at all and the thought of a needle terrifies them.

The direct approach, including mobile teams, has been used to help these rural folks because many have no mobile phones and needless to say, no connectivity, much less able to download a MySejahtera app.

These are our fellow Malaysians who live in distant areas, and they need our help.

The virus has unfortunately reached them and the fight against Covid-19 is even more difficult and deadlier for them as they are mostly isolated. We need to step up.