Friday, 20200323.
Day 6 of Malaysia's Movement Control Order.
This morning I read a news article reporting that the public in Malaysia is confused over the Movement Control Order. Its caption said,
/// The people have been confused about the MCO - and from the moment they were told to anticipate a 'big announcement', chaos ensued. ///
If the initial press release of the Movement Control Order had been more specific about the "movement control" part, such as restrictions on inter state travel, on operating hours and types of food outlets allowed, on the number of persons from each family allowed to go shopping for essentials, etc.
Then there won't be so many additional restrictions being announced by different ministers and authorities at different times almost on a daily ad hoc basis.
It is such ad hoc announcements that cause uncertainty and fear among the public about what will happen next, especially the one about army deployment, leading to continued panic buying.
Dishing out additional restrictions under the Movement Control Order in a piece meal manner is not helpful at all.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
The Majlis Keselamatan Negara should be the only authority making press and media releases.
