#RakyatGagal? 200,000 Malaysians ‘Balik Kampung’ During Hari Raya
Many are accusing each other of failing.
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Senior Minister (Defence) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob revealed that an estimated 200,000 people bypassed police roadblocks – travelling across state borders to ‘balik kampung’ or return to their hometowns during the recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays.
According to the minister, denizens had either misused official travel permissions given by authorities or simply lied in order to get past roadblocks.
This, he said, had caused the many Hari Raya infection clusters and deaths due to Covid-19 nationwide.
Hari Raya exodus
Inter-district and inter-state travel were only allowed for work, long-distance married couples, vaccine appointments as well as for emergencies with permission from relevant ministries or the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) as the nationwide Movement Control Order (MCO) kicked in on 12 May.
Ismail Sabri elaborated that because people were angry that the rules had gotten in the way of their Hari Raya plans, many had come up with different methods to go around the restrictions.
Read More: PDRM Is Gonna Spot-Check Houses With Many Cars To Find People Who Disobey SOP & Balik Kampung
He further explained that due to the high number of suspicious travelers on the roads, authorities ‘unfortunately’ had to turn down those who did have actual cause to travel.
Read More: Massive Traffic Jams Reported Across The Country As Malaysia Endures MCO 3.0
Read More: ‘Balik KL’ Traffic Causes Concern Online
#RakyatGagal
It appears that some Malaysians are placing the blame for the continued Covid-19 outbreaks on one another.
A quick look on social media reveals the hashtag #RakyatGagal, meaning the people had failed, trending for the past couple of days.
Many had accused each other of stubbornness and ignorance towards standard operating procedures (SOP) as well as what’s happening overall in the country in relation to the pandemic.
Not surprised that those are also the same people who blames kerajaan gagal and golongan kayangan. Not saying they're good but rakyat pun sama je contributing to the numbers #RakyatGagal pic.twitter.com/Me5lZ645LO
— 🍫 Choco | Alisya 🍫 (@itsChocoleta) May 29, 2021
Got total lockdown, complain.
— M.S.M.R🇲🇾🇵🇸 (@MohdSuhelll) May 29, 2021
No total lockdown, complain.
SOP tak masuk akal, complain.
Proper SOP, complain.#KerajaanGagal tapi the main is #RakyatGagal take note
Finally #RakyatGagal is trending but only apply to the ppl who don't learn from lesson and no awareness at all. I got no words to say about it. 🤦♂️
— Henry Law JunWei (@heckerioXD) May 29, 2021
Meanwhile, political pundits like Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Information Bureau Secretary Datuk Hishamuddin Abdul Karim also came to the opinion that it was not the government who had failed to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, but the rakyat’s failure to comply with SOP that had cause outbreaks to spread.
In a report by Utusan Malaysia, he explained that no one had thanked the government when numbers came down, but still blamed it when cases skyrocketed.
Actually, the government has not failed to break the chain of Covid-19 infections, but it is the attitude of certain members of the public that disobey MCO and SOP. Because of this attitude, Covid-19 cases have increased exponentially in just two weeks, because of some who don’t discipline themselves.
Bersatu Information Bureau Secretary Datuk Hishamuddin Abdul Karim via Utusan Malaysia
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