Friday, 20200320.
Day 3 of Malaysia's Movement Control Order.
Earlier today, a State Chief Secretary went out to inspect the enforcement of the Movement Control Order at a road-block in town. He was disappointed when he saw many vehicles on the road, and by the reasons given by the drivers when asked why they were not staying back at home.
He thought they were mere excuses.
In one of my earlier facebook posts this morning, I had opined that the setting up of road-blocks, especially with the deployment of the army this Sunday, will make it harder for us to go out for essential goods and services.
"Not true,"
replied a friend bluntly, strongly disagreeing with me, and asserting that it is our right to go out for essential things that are exempted under the ongoing Movement Control Order.
What he failed to see is that, in practice, there will be varying degrees of skepticism shown by officers at road-blocks, even if you are going out for genuine reasons.
That is my concern.
I didn't have to wait long for a confirmation. Tonight, this news report quotes the state secretary as saying:
/// “Some of the excuses given by the motorists I spoke to was that they were fetching their wives, buying food and going to the bank. ///
Fetching your spouse home, buying food from the restaurant, and going to the bank are reasons that can be seen as excuses here.
Yes, anything you say might be construed as an excuse. It depends on how skeptical the officer at the road-block is. If he isn't convinced by your explanation, it's an excuse to him, and you may be ordered to turn around and go home.
Yesterday morning, I had to make a half an hour drive to Tanjung Tualang to turn off the water mains in our second house there. The float in the storage tank had failed recently and water would overflow if the house is left unattended.
Happily, I didn't encounter any road blocks. If I had, how would I have explained this to the officer in charge? Probably he would've thought that I was making up an excuse.
This morning I had to make a long 40 minute drive to a specialist's clinic in Ipoh to obtain the monthly supply of medication for my mother, and then to bring it to her at the home where she stays.
Again, if I had been stopped at roadblocks along the way, will the officers believe my story?
Or will it be yet another excuse?
#Covid-19 #Pandemic
