Dear Diary,
Today we should have been celebrating the final hours of the Movement Control Order (MCO) but instead, we have to endure it for (at least) two more weeks.
To ‘mark’ the occasion, ‘The MCO Diaries’ will be a little different as April Fools’ Day came early.
Here’s how Day 14 of the MCO unfolded.
8am-6pm: COVIDIOTS OF THE DAY – It was a busy morning with reaction to Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin’s stunt of wearing a full personal protective equipment (PPE) suit during a sanitation exercise yesterday topping the list.
It is good when politicians go to the ground but their job is to administer and listen to what the rakyat need. Not poke their noses in what the experts are doing. We don’t have enough PPE, so please reserve them for frontliners. Glamour-seeking politicians are not frontliners.
Former deputy Health director-general Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman said spraying disinfectant on road surfaces is bewildering as authorities should instead disinfect frequent touch-points, such as doorknobs, lift buttons, and escalator railings.
See, Zuraida. Leave it to the experts.
Joining the ‘honourable minister’ in this list is the Women and Family Development Ministry. Yesterday, on its Instagram page, it advised women, among others, to ‘talk like Doraemon, dress up and wear make-up at home!’ You know, in case they offend the husband. The last I checked it is 2020 and not 1420.
Meanwhile, earlier today, a woman was arrested for calling the police idiots after she was stopped at a roadblock in Persiaran Surian. For the record, 742 people were arrested yesterday for defying the MCO.
Separately, while I sympathise with the traders, Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa should relook his plans to allow Bazaar Ramadan to operate.
He was reported as saying the bazaars are needed by those living in the cities but then added the rural folk do not have the time to cook after work.
Confusing isn’t it?
As someone once said, the only thing missing is the big top … as the clowns are already in place.
8.25am: SARONG POWER – Some experts say one of the key things to be productive during MCO is to dress as if you’re going to work. It’s the opposite for me. According to Grammarly, I wrote 20,721 words in the past fortnight or an average of 1,480 per day.
9.27am: BUST A MOVE – How some may be feeling after 14 days at home.
It's Day 14 of the Movement Control Order. No idea who this is as received via WhatsApp. I'm guessing many of us are going stir crazy sudah. #juststayathome pic.twitter.com/8ssPaBgUoK
— gnunis (@gnunis1892) March 31, 2020
10.05am: DESPERATE TIMES – Reports emerge a lorry transporting bread that went missing in Kuala Lumpur was found in Kemaman, Terengganu. I gave you an easy-peasy bread recipe on Day 10, so here’s a two-ingredient bagel recipe.
11am: PANIC BUYING AGAIN – Do we really have enough food for the next two weeks?
2.50pm: WELCOME TO QUARANTINE – Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announces returning Malaysians will be housed in quarantine centres with immediate effect. Not much information yet on the set-up of the centres.
4.13pm: WHY YOU STAY AT HOME – See below.
5.07pm: SIX MORE DEATHS – The death toll is now 43 while the number of new cases went up by 140 to bring the total to 2,766.
6pm: THE DANCE OF LOVE – It would have been so easy to end with ‘Send in the clowns’ but I’ve opted for a Saloma classic. After all, Bossa Nova is ‘the dance of love’.
