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KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS) – Malaysians took to social media on Friday (October 2) to criticize the country’s politicians for violating social distancing protocols and refusing to isolate themselves after the country posted its second-highest peak in daily cases of coronavirus after a state election. last week.
The Southeast Asian country has reported a steady increase in cases following a surge in travelers to Sabah, on the island of Borneo, ahead of state polls last Saturday.
On Thursday, Malaysia recorded 260 new infections, the highest since its peak on June 4, 277.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government has come under fire for failing to impose controls such as mandatory screening for travelers from Sabah before elections and for allowing people to interrupt a 14-day home quarantine order if they test negative for the virus.
Muhyiddin’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but health officials have defended not announcing the control measures earlier, saying authorities did not want to dissuade Sabah voters from returning home to cast their votes.
The hashtags #PoliticiansCauseVirus and #MinisterCluster were trending on Twitter in Malaysia on Friday after it was reported that ministers and political figures were attending public events upon their return from the campaign in the state.
At least two politicians tested positive in the election campaign, while travel-related cases to Sabah have been reported in all 13 Malaysian states.
“Why wasn’t he quarantined for 14 days?” Twitter user @safiqshahid asked Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa, who posted photos of himself at a business congress after returning from Sabah this week.
In a statement, Annuar’s press secretary denied that the minister had violated quarantine rules, saying he had already completed self-isolation and tested negative days before the elections.
Some Twitter users also raised concerns about the risks posed by the national elections, which could be called this year amid uncertainty about the stability of the ruling alliance, which has a two-seat majority in Parliament.
Muhyiddin faces a leadership challenge from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who said last week that he had won the support of a majority of lawmakers to form a government.
Malaysia has reported a total of 11,484 coronavirus cases so far, including 136 deaths.
Meanwhile, Sabah’s opposition MP Liew Vui Keong died on Friday (October 2) at around 11:40 a.m., believed to be from a lung infection, The Star reported online.
Datuk Liew, 60, died while receiving treatment at Gleneagles Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the state of Sabah.
He had initially sought treatment for a slipped disc prior to nominations in the state elections on September 12. However, it is understood that she contracted a lung infection after that.
The Parti Warisan Sabah MP was Malaysia’s de facto law minister in the cabinet of former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad when Pakatan Harapan gained power in 2018.
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