There are many ways to draw attention, but some politicians only seem to know the trite methods.

THE special five-day sitting of the Dewan Rakyat was meant for Members of Parliament to express their views on how best to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was also an opportunity to hear and grill certain ministers about what they have or haven’t been doing.

The takeaway from those five days indicates that Parliament was overshadowed by other issues. And the uncouth behaviour of some MPs leaves much to be desired.

It’s always the same recalcitrant few whose attention-seeking antics include name calling, shouting, taking aggressive stances and heckling. Perhaps their legion of supporters enjoys such theatrics, or maybe those politicians needed to release some steam since the Dewan Rakyat hadn’t convened for a while.

Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps they needed to be loud to gain the attention of the Speaker, who has been accused of being biased and not giving sufficient time for MPs to speak.

They are not alone. There was one senior backbencher who suddenly blurted out something about a “pesta arak” (liquor party) without being able to substantiate his claim. Don’t even talk about the “probok probok” MP.

For many Malaysians who were hoping or naively believing their representatives could speak intelligently on issues relating to managing Covid-19 and how we should prepare to re-open the country, they were stunned to learn how wrong they were.

Many MPs who spoke were more interested in addressing the status of the Emergency laws, which is when Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan threw a curve ball by announcing that they had been revoked.

That blindsided the nation, and given the seriousness of the issue, we’d expect such news to be given greater importance, not delivered so nonchalantly.

The Law Minister’s bombshell provided the opportunity for the Opposition to bang on the subject.

Yes, of course it’s an important Constitutional issue, but by then, the Covid-19 agenda faded away and appeared relegated.

Lawyer MPs were suddenly discussing points of law and provisions of the Constitution, forgetting that while they are lawmakers, the Dewan Rakyat isn’t a courtroom.

Takiyuddin has now found himself in a quagmire because the Yang diPertuan Agong has put on record that he is “greatly disappointed” that the six Emergency Ordinances were rescinded without his consent.

To put it succinctly, the King has said that he has yet to consent to the revocation.

The government’s reply, quoting the Federal Constitution, explained that the Cabinet decided to advise the King to revoke the Emergency Ordinances, and that he must accept its advice as outlined under Article 14 of the Federal Constitution. Basically, the government is saying it has advised the King and that the power remains with the Prime Minister and Cabinet, implying the Cabinet doesn’t need His Majesty’s consent.

As with any interpretation of the law, depending on who you talk to and what you want to believe to suit your political allegiance, it can go either way.

However, the relationship between the government and the Rulers may no longer be the same, at least for the time being.

Worse still, the impression given is that the government is afraid of a debate or insinuating that it has lost its majority.

The strong choice of words used in the King’s statement is almost unprecedented and very unusual. Palace announcements are usually not so direct and blunt.

But even before the press statement was issued, those close to royalty had heard private remarks and comments that feelings had been hurt.

The current standoff hasn’t developed into a Constitutional crisis, although some lawmakers seem to be rooting for it. However, that’s the last thing Malaysia needs now.

I believe our institutions are aware that Malaysia needs to be on track again.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has led to pressing health and economic problems, many countries don’t also have the political jeopardy of an unstable government with a wafer-thin majority.

The present political predicament can’t continue. The government is regarded as a backdoor one because it took an unconventional way of forming.

Never mind if it was Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad who opened the door – in a perplexing way – for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to come in, but the reality is that issues of mandate and legitimacy will continue to nag the PM.

The only way is to hold a general election, but certainly not now. Let’s get our act together by expediting vaccinations and achieving herd immunity first.

After that, the politicians can fight as much as they want to. They can kill each other for all we care, but don’t reel the rakyat in to help you get into power or remain there.

Following the Sabah elections débâcle of causing a spike in Covid-19 cases, we don’t want the electorate to be your sacrifice to fulfil your selfish political ambitions. Spare us the drivel of wanting to serve us, please.

But still, let’s give credit where it’s due. While most MPs, especially the alpha egoistic males, were keener to trade barbs in Parliament, a few showed that they could put aside political differences and speak rationally.

Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming, Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah and minister Khairy Jamaluddin certainly provided hope and optimism for many of us who have begun to lose faith in our politicians, especially the ageing ones who still can’t leave the stage.

Ong is currently aiding Khairy in the vaccination programme in Selangor and his bipartisan approach of Opposition and government working together is a good start.

In fact, the government should have adopted this strategy last year, but better late than never.

In an interview, he revealed his role in helping advise the government on opening certain parts of the economy as vaccination keeps more people safe, and exuded confidence in the government’s vaccination programme working well.

As former Treasury secretary- general Tan Sri Mohd Sheriff Kassim said, Ong showed he is not interested in demonising anyone and that it’s highly commendable he didn’t play politics at this time of national crisis.

The DAP leader has also taken to social media to correct misinformation about the supply and sale of Sinovac in Malaysia. He also shared his knowledge about factories hit by Covid-19 in Selangor, pointing out that many of the infections transpired at workers’ quarters and not necessarily on factory premises.

Nurul provided good suggestions on how the country can deal with the pandemic and cited examples, saying cases may multiply if the government rashly eases movement restrictions solely based on vaccination coverage.

She noted the emergence of more infectious variants in the country, besides quoting experiences in Britain and Iceland that saw cases spike in recent weeks, despite having vaccinated more than 60% of their populations with at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine.

Khairy has also been commended for his comprehensive presentation, delivered in a confident and assertive manner. He was able to answer every question raised by the MPs later.

But Malaysia is in deep trouble. It’s time for Malaysians, especially the politicians, to stay above politics. There is a time for everything and right now, it’s about saving lives and jobs.

We need to restore confidence among the people and investors. The change must come from the heart of the nation. Malaysians hope our MPs will rise above partisan politics.

AS unbelievable as this sounds, many of us are now in the unenviable position of wondering if our vaccination wasn’t merely blank shots, which reports have intimated.

These are probably isolated incidents, but we certainly have source for concern. There’s a trust deficit in Malaysia, and that’s calling it like it is.

It’s fair to say there’s a general wariness with the government, and these acts of negligence have become associated with alleged corruption and incompetence.

Never mind that the frontliners have administered over 16 million doses and 13 police reports have been lodged so far, because until we get the full story, we really don’t know what has transpired.

But the mood it’s left is foul. In my chat group, friends who had earlier praised the frontliners for their wonderful experiences have changed their tone overnight and become an angry mob.

It’s certainly one of the most trending subjects in social media, and even for those still stuck in the analogue world.

Jokes about Astra Takkena, a reference about Malaysians being injected without the vaccine and those who got empty shots receiving SeeNoVacc, are being shared.

With that said, when I go for my regular medical check-up tomorrow, I’m going to ask my doctor to include a test on my antibodies level, just to be sure I got the right dose of Covid-19 vaccination.

It’s a simple process of measuring the quantity of antibodies in my blood sample. Since I’m going to have my blood sugar level screened, I might as well include this along with the other checks.

Many people are upset because they’re now uncertain. The anxiety generated is by the viral videos, since social media has a way of amplifying issues.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba has said that affected individuals would be invited to receive their true shots.

“Will be called in for an injection again,” he said on WhatsApp when asked about the issue, as reported by Berita Harian last week.

But Dr Adham isn’t the most popular politician in Malaysia. His serial blundering hasn’t help even though he made perfect sense this time.

His deputy, Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali had earlier explained that fatigued vaccinators could be behind the “blank shot” cases.

The first incident happened on July 17 at a drive-through vaccination centre at the Lapangan Terbang Sungai Petani army camp, meant for armed forces personnel and their family members, according to the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF). Curiously, two more incidents happened on the same day, one each in Kuala Lumpur and Bangi, Selangor.

Police reports have been lodged by those affected in all three incidents.

CITF said the police are investigating the cases and that the public will be kept updated.

“If wrongdoing is found, CITF will not hesitate to terminate the services of the personnel involved and also take action in accordance with the law,” it said.

I’d like to give the benefit of doubt because I find these incidents truly bizarre. The implicated vaccinators must be, well, sadistic, because they were aware of someone recording this with their mobile phone, and yet, they did a bad job, intentional or otherwise.

One would expect an errant person, with intentions of selling the vaccine, to only do this despicable act under the least possible scrutiny. So, this is something I can’t understand.

As much as we appreciate these volunteers’ work, they must also realise that their negligence is criminal. It gives a false sense of security and confidence to the recipients.

It’s even worse that the result of this is the failure to protect these people. Many of us are already waking up to the fact that the vaccines don’t necessarily protect us completely.

I have friends and relatives who have tested positive despite receiving their first, and even second doses. So, can we imagine what it could have been like for those who received a blank jab?

So, the question here is, how many unfortunate Malaysians fall into this category?

It’s only proper, as a matter of principle and accountability, that we’re informed of what happened.

And it won’t be good enough for Malaysians to be merely told that they can get another vaccination if they received a blank injection.

Surely the authorities don’t want to appear to be covering up these slack actions by the vaccinators.

According to my sources, involving one PPC, the vaccinator was reprimanded, and she pleaded negligence, citing long hours and the long queue. I was told most of these nurses work between eight and 10 hours. And sometimes, even to 12 hours and more.

They administer an average of 15 shots per hour, so that would work out to about 120 shots a day at least.

It’s good that the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been applied for vaccinators to show recipients their vaccine dosages and the empty vials, which are audited daily.

All personnel administering Covid-19 vaccines must show the filled syringe to recipients before they are injected.

There are bound to be human errors, as with any other jobs. It’s another story, of course, if deceit or malice are involved.

A search on the Internet will reveal instances of blank jabs being accidentally administered around the world. On March 10, the New York Daily News reported many people getting empty shots in central Virginia while a similar incident took place in Norfolk, also in the US, in April, according to 13news.com.

In June, there was an uproar in Bihar, India, when a vaccinator was filmed injecting a blank shot, according to Indian media.

There are many such mishaps in other countries too, but minus the conspiracy theories prevalent in Malaysia.

In February, it was reported that a staff member at the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) had mistakenly injected someone with the equivalent of five doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.

This occurred during a vaccination exercise and was due to human error resulting from a lapse in communication among members of the vaccination team, said SNEC. The worker in charge of diluting the vaccine had been called away to attend to other matters before it was done.

On June 14, a 16-year-old boy was wrongly given the first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, though thankfully, his health shouldn’t be threatened.

The mistake was discovered at Kolam Ayer Community Club vaccination centre, when its staff realised the boy was below 18 years old after he was given the shot.

In a joint statement, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that vaccination centre staff should have checked his age during registration, and both apologised for the inconvenience and anxiety caused.

The MOH and police need to conclude their investigations soon and MOH must apologise for the misstep, so we can all move on and let the frontliners continue their work.

Work must be in shifts and maximum working hours observed so that these vaccinators are not overworked.

We shouldn’t let our frontliners work under intense pressure and suspicion. Let’s wrap up the investigations and let the police reveal the findings, so that we can leave this behind us.

Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba. -Bernama filepic

IT’S unfortunately a job hazard, and par for the course. Some handle it better than others, but for politicians, they must develop a thick skin.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba had a testing week when he became a target on social media following his faux pas during a talk at Universiti Putra Malaysia.

He mistook Spanish Fly, the infamous sexual stimulant, for the Spanish Flu, pointing out how the early 20th century flu pandemic had killed millions of people around the world in two years.

The only problem was that he mentioned the natural aphrodisiac three times before realising (or being told of) his mistake.

But it was already captured in a video that went viral. Soon, he found himself the subject of ridicule and insults, reflecting the overall mood of Malaysians.

He has chosen not to respond to the blunder. Of course, he could have sportingly made light of the issue and taken it all in stride.

The comments on social media shouldn’t be taken seriously. Of course, some have always crossed the line and encroached sedition and racism.

As is probably common knowledge by now, many Malaysians are poor in rational discourse, and this is reflected in the comments section, where we seem to prefer putting opponents down and resorting to name calling, instead of providing sound ideas.

Social media has a life of its own, but it also moves extremely fast. Anyone hosting podcast shows will tell you that the number of viewers keeps dropping the longer it drags.

Our favourite comedian Douglas Lim, who has kept the nation in stitches with his parody of politicians, keeps his videos between four to six minutes, and yet, they are impactful.

So, by this week, we can rest assured that no one will remember what happened to the health minister last week. Malaysians have short memories.

But I’m sure Dr Adham knows the difference between the Spanish Flu and Spanish Fly. The fact that he had spoken to an audience about the deadly virus means he’s informed on the subject.

It’s hard to tell if it was a Freudian slip or deduce what really was on his mind. Perhaps he had been watching too much European football, or something else. I kept saying “lock up” instead of “lock down” during my podcasts, which my friends pointed out to me. I guess my subconscious kept telling my brain that it feels like a lock-up.

But let’s back it up to where it all began. The Spanish Flu – which killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people – didn’t originate from Spain. As a contrast to its deadliness, roughly 17 million people died during the First World War. The pandemic hit the United States, Europe and even remote Pacific islands.

It was mistakenly called Spanish Flu because the Americans and Europeans thought it came from the Iberian Peninsula. What else is new since the Americans have always blamed others for viruses.

The mistake started because Spain, being neutral during WW1, had a free press, so the flu was reported widely, even in gory detail, unlike in the US and Europe where negative news was suppressed to avoid demoralising the allied troops.

The Spanish thought the virus came from France, so they called it French Flu. No one is certain where it came from, although allegations later pointed to a military base in Kansas in 1918, but they remain unproven.

Fast forward to 2021. The world is still debating the origins of the Covid-19 virus. It was detected in Wuhan, China, but that doesn’t mean it came from a military lab in the republic.

But for modern day politicians, they must have learned that social media is more lethal than Covid-19.

No one is spared, really. Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has taken all the crude insults like a sport. He has even acknowledged on public television that he had been called “stupid”, and even when he was ridiculed for hospital admission for diarrhoea, it didn’t seem to upset him, not openly at least.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad appeared on a podcast hosted by comedian Harith Iskander last week.

I can safely say that at least 90% of the comments said nothing positive about him.

I don’t think Dr Mahathir gave two hoots, though. He probably slept well that night. He probably didn’t read the comments, or he has super thick skin because he was still talking about wanting to be the chairman of the National Recovery Plan council.

But this is politics. If politicians can’t take the heat, then they should quit the job and attend to their durian orchards, where it’s likely less prickly.

No one should lodge police reports for insults posted on social media, and in turn, the police shouldn’t entertain such reports.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission has rightly said that it’s not investigating alleged insults on Dr Adham over the latter’s gaffe.

Likewise, surely the police have better things to do than to investigate doctors involved in Code Black and Black Monday campaigns, where these government contract medical officers are seeking transparency in the selection for permanent service intake.

Yes, of course they are frustrated, but many are frontliners in the war against Covid-19, so we shouldn’t be pressuring them with unnecessary investigations. Any police probe will only leave an undesired and opposite effect.

It is unnecessary to intimidate the young doctors who are just worried about their future. They have worked hard to be doctors. Leave them alone. In the first place, why did we allow more than 30 medical schools to be set up and overproduce doctors?

There’s also no reason to feel uneasy over Malaysians helping each other. If Malaysians need help, it doesn’t matter where it comes from.

Interestingly, there was even a video purportedly showing a Korean newscaster laughing at the Spanish Fly issue. Except that the newscaster was talking about something else but many of us still shared it, tying it to the recent blooper.

Can we have some common sense please? It’s a rare commodity in our country these days, but shouldn’t we be doing better?