Dr Mahathir says on Facebook: Work hard to fix Malaysia's economy, obey MCO
Published on 01 Apr 2020. | Source: theedgemarkets.com
KUALA LUMPUR (April 1): Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said on Facebook today it will take a long time for Malaysia’s economy to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic as the country needs to rebuild its economic foundation.
Dr Mahathir, however, said that with hard work, the nation’s economy can be fixed faster.
“Working habits may reduce and we have to lift ourselves up and to work harder, as with hard work, we can fix our nation’s economy faster,” he said during a live question and answer session today on Facebook.
Dr Mahathir also took the opportunity to advise Malaysians to obey the country’s movement control order (MCO).
Malaysia’s MCO, which was initially scheduled between March 18 and 31, requires non-essential businesses to stop operations while the public has been ordered to stay at home to curb the Covid-19 outbreak. Last Wednesday (March 25), Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government decided to extend the MCO until April 14 because updates from the National Security Council and Health Ministry indicated an increase in Covid-19 cases.
Today Dr Mahathir said: “Our objective is to flatten the curve and break the chain. If we succeed in doing that, we will be back to doing our daily routines."
“We cannot avoid the MCO, as we have no vaccine at the moment. Social distancing is needed for us to avoid contracting the virus. That is why I agree for us to have at least a partial lockdown period. Other countries had to have total lockdown and no movement at all.
“In Wuhan, because they were strict in enforcing the lockdown, they no longer have new patients. If we follow the MCO, and we stay at home, and no one at home is infected, we will not be infected.
“But if we go out [and socialise], this will cause a bigger spread and it will take longer for [the community] to heal. Some people refused to be screened, having been to large gatherings where some individuals were found to have contracted [the virus]. They could infect others and this will slow the recovery process,” Dr Mahathir said.
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