BAD NEWS - THE TRUTH IS APRIL 14 TOO RISKY - EXTEND MCO TO END APRIL

Government's management of lock down shoddy and careless.

 The government must extend the movement control order to end April, better safe than sorry, other exigencies must take second place, it is the lives of people wee are talking about.

 If you are hoping like most Malaysians to have this MOC lifted by April 14 I am asking you to hope otherwise because if it ends on April 14 we are in for dire consequences, many of us in the 60's and beyond age group will not be here come April 14 next year.

Smack right in the centre of the city enhanced lock down today with 17 cases recorded today 30 March

The Director General of Health has already warned that the worst is yet to come, there are other potential clusters, of people coming back from holidays overseas for one but I think the most potent is from those who come back after the "balek Kampung" on the first day of the MOC and the still to be tracked tabligh participants.

The balek kampung crowd would surely have included tabligh participant and knowing that was a possibility  which the Inspector General of Police allowed the crowd to control him and gave in allowing them to break the MOC on its first day. If he did not realise the consequences of his actions which are actually his fault having come on TV to tell people that they could cross state borders if they applied at the nearest police station which they did in droves and he caved in because of the inability of the police to handle the situation and waived the requirement to allow them all to go.

The actions of the IGP showed a man who was really ignorant of the Malaysian psyche, a person ignorant and unable to control  situations he gave them the excuse to run and they took that opportunity a senseless and irresponsible move for which he must either resign or be sacked.

A dangerously large gathering comprising participants from Korea and Japan

Those cross border movements on the first day of MOC sanctioned by the police has created a scattering of the virus  throughout the peninsular and to make matters worse there still are people from the tabligh gathering not accounted for, so is it surprising with what we are seeing in Kluang, and  parts of Selangor.

If the MOC is lifted workplaces and schools will become the next clusters and from there we will experience more deaths.

School children who are placed in the care of grandparents can bring the virus home  and infect the grandparents, children can also pass the virus from parents or vice versa from pick it from parents   who mix with workers who have contracted this from the tabligh cases or other clusters and the holiday returning schoolchildren and workers will in turn infect their classmates or coworkers who will bring it home to their parents and grandparents and a viscous circle will result a circle from which there is no escape. The possibilities of infection are just too complex.

This Government has messed it up, they have messed up the whole thing and are only making it worse without effective control.

I am not blaming any religion, but the authorities were stupid to allow with Tabligh gathering to take place,  sources are telling us it was the influence of one Preacher a controversial preacher that drew such a huge crowds to the tabligh gathering, this controversial preacher has been subject to much controversy in Malaysia, the story could nto be confirmed but from what is happening it looks very likely.

If it was not him why is he not coming forward to say something about it? He is treated as such an authority, he is given so much prominence, he can even take on Malaysian politicians, and has a train of body guards, so why did he not come out?

Why has he turned so quiet, in fact there are a number of them, who have in recent times preached hate,  the likes of Riduan Tee, the Zamri Vinoth and of course the Zakir Naik where are these people, there are infected people out there and they will infect others, who in turn will infect others, they may die from their own infections,  I have been saying it time an again to draw them in the government must grant some kind of immunity to those who are illegal immigrants to allow them to come in freely but to date there has been no sign of such amnesty.

Looking at the situation it is really deafening the silence of the likes of these people and that of Hadi Awang, where is he the self proclaimed champion of  Islam in the country.

The disease is being spread by the tabligh cluster and soon we eill lose track of it and it will be named other clusters, it is now in its fifth tier so we can imagine how far it has gone, have these people the leaders of this tabligh and the authorities who approved it, by their carelessness been complicit? If they have they should be there in the forefront calling on these people to turn themselves in, or these people will be as devastating as  the worst war machines in our society, they will turn the sityuation here to one worse than Italy it is already on that course.

The attendees of the tabligh  not reporting in  are walking time bombs already set off in our midst and in all honesty how can we really expect to contain this virus by April 14 it is almost impossible. When we went into lock down I predicted that by April 1 we will hit 3,000 cases and the figures as they now stand are not too far.

The Director General of Health is doing a fantastic job, the medical staff, doctors, nurses, attendants, mortuary workers and all the rest  are too, they are risking their lives  and  yet we are tolerating MOC violators, how can we? Have we no thought for those who are risking their lives in the front line and pleading and pleading to say at home? 

These are signs of a powerless government, it does not know its priorities, leave alone understand the gravity of the situation we now face, to force the lock down rigidly will make them lose votes they feel  it may drive people against the government but at the end of the day when we overcome this calamity it will be a different story. This government lacks will because it knows it is a government not formed by the will of the people, so their every move is to ensure it buys votes or so they think.

The DG of health can only recommend measures he is not the subject matter specialist in controlling the MOC tht is supposed to come from the Home Minister, his DG and the IGP, and that effectiveness will help the DG bring this under control. As it is it has been messed up, and this has reulted in the current situation the Police have failed in bringing all those who attended the tabligh to test even to this day and if we continue this way the pandemic will hit us even more violently than Italy and the US.

Our measurement must be done on a per capita basis not just mere numbers and we'll realise how really terrible our situation really is.

This government with half backed ministers all around are exactly like Chickens without a neck, running around aimlessly, they present a sham of an economic stimulus package just to win the hearts of people, that these packages will only turn some of them rich does not matter they want the weight taken off their shoulders, till they can make a run for it.

This Government has by its own volition acknowledged it is an illegitimate government, when the Prime Minister or should I say the illegitimate Prime Minister said, "we may not be the government you elected but we still care for you" 

The question is how can  there be a government in this country which is a Parliamentary Democracy a government other than the government that is elected by the people, if there is, then that government must be illegitimate, so it is abundantly clear that this is an illegitimate government, not "of the people nor by the people so how can it be for the people?"

The people are now run by a group of people who decided to choose themselves and place themselves in power via the back door  and govern even without the authority of Parliament.

The nation is void of leadership of any kind, the people are faced with a calamity  the likes of which we have never ever seen or experienced and it is run by self serving individuals who do not respect the sanctity of the ballot box, an who can say so too, and who sit there.

It is most likely that come  April 14 this government will begin its downfall and the downfall of the nation, economic conditions will force it to lift the MCO, it will succumb to economic pressures, its refusal to listen to industry who are also suffering and helping them survive will force to reopen economic activity to the fullest and in doing so set the corona virus Covid 19 free to roam and ravage the common people of this country.

CATACLYSM - ANGRY MOTHER EARTH HAS COME A CALLING WITH VENGEANCE

A FIRST FOR THIS GENERATION

On Earth for all creation not just humanity

REFLECTION.
by Francis T Rozario

 THE LAST CALAMITY
Not many know, but some of us have seen the calamity of the second world war. Some of us have parents who have suffered extremely during this war,  as POWs, as forced labour in the "Death Railway," in then Burma (now Myanmar) others through hunger, malnutrition, fear and strife, others in prison.

Malaya as it was then known and probably in Borneo too, of which part is Sarawak and Sabah  were also part of the conquest.

In Malaya the suffering was extreme every suspect was either tortured or killed or both, my father was a prisoner of the Japanese then, he was tortured, a term that would have consequences on his health later in life.

From what has been told to me by my mother, and friends who lived during the time I can probably only imagine how terrible it was and what people then endured.

To keep families alive people spied for the Japanese, sometimes even exaggerating their stories and resultantly  those  on whom these stories were told to the Japanese suffered torture and even death.

Food was scarce but people got along, they ate tapioca if they had no rice, rice was scarce, and so too many other essentials.

Many Malaysians were beheaded, and my father told me one story the lesson I would use later in life.

Two men  walked past a Japanese sentry, they refused to bow to the soldier standing guard there, and were called back and hit and asked to bow, they refused, one of them told the Sentry "I only bow to God," the others are equals and I do not bow to them. The sentry hit the man and kicked him and hit again with the but of his gun, the man fell down, the other lifted him up, he in turn was hit and butted as well more viciously.

They were asked to bow again, and by this time there were a group of Japanese soldiers standing by, they were all insisting these men bow to the sentry and they refused.

When they found that these men were not willing to give in they called a  few passers by forced them to dig two graves for these two men and beheaded them.

In 1976,  I worked for a Japanese organisation, it was customary for us to talk to our respective workers, in our sections in the morning, before the talk it was customary for the workers to bow to us and in return we bowed to them, I scrapped that requirement for the people in my section. When asked by my Japanese section head why we were not doing it, I gave him the same reply that brave man gave the Japanese Soldier in world war 2 it was an honour to do that, the Japanese shook his head and went off, after that they knew why I did not bow at them either, I wished them in Japanese they'd spontaneously  bow at me but I never bent down to bow to them and they understood.  

Those times in world war 2  were a time of disaster, calamity, death, distress, fear, loneliness, hunger, pain and more.

 IN THIS CALAMITY ME AND YOU ARE THE ONLY TARGETS - NOTHING ELSE NOW JUST ME AND YOU.

Reflect these times today with the advent of a micro virus we call Covid 19, the conditions  are the same I suppose as in any other calamity and that is for today, it can  get worse, worse if we do not join together as one and fight this unseen enemy by respecting mother earth,  and no matter what anyone says - that it came from China or from the United States or from Timbuktu it is a virus sent to us for our part in the desecration of the earth by mother earth.

Now the Earth is fighting back and it will,  with in all its fury, with all its power and  force and it is doing so with but just a tiny spec- the virus, now we witness the havoc it can bring not to the rest of nature but just to  a select group, a chosen race - called Humanity - only us,  see how how precise mother earth  is.

To her we are all the same, she makes no distinction, it does not matter if you are Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh or of  any other religion you are spot on you belong to that one race called Humanity, you are the target of mother Earth there is no distinction so we fight this together or perish together and say goodbye to Humanity..

Mother Earth is giving us that chance that is why we are locked down, the lock down is forced upon us to stay at home and reflect, reflect and change our ways  or face the consequences. 


NOTE: Not the Animals, not the Birds, not the fishes, not the worms, not the waters not the trees but you and me are the specific targets of mother earth.

Why us O God?

It is no longer a war of nation against nation but of Mother earth against her most wicked ungrateful residents - humanity, who have refused to live up to the terms of their tenure here on earth.

                                                                                                                 

Large scale destruction of land and air

Mother Earth is no enemy she gave  us in abundance we were not satisfied, we raped her, took everything she provided for granted,destroyed and wasted it, destroyed it without a care and  in abundance too, putting the planet and all other living creatures and plants in danger of extinction.

She tolerated us but now she can bear it no more and time has come for her to put things right, a fight for the rest of nature, the birds, the Bees the trees, the animals,the fish the waters, the air  and the rest but  not us we must be taught a lesson,we either learn or be doomed, she has leashed but just a tiny spec a truly formidable weapon but with  chance for us to resolve to do things better and repent.

The Euphrates once thought to be part of Paradise

This is why the older generation has been picked for this scourge as the most vulnerable, because it was this group (we) to be more precise my generation  that contributed most to the pillage of the earths resources without a care for how it affected  the earth and future generations.

Yes, we must admit that it was us the bloody baby boomers who created this chaos, don't point your fingers to anyone point it to yourself if you are over 50 and say, "mea culpa, mea maxima culpa" (it is my fault my most grievous fault).

We may not have been actively involved in the rape of the earth, but by our collaboration - being workers, doing work in such industries, being involved in any way whatsoever as customers or peddlers of goods and services  that  used these pillaged resources of earth in one way or another,  were party to it, and more so by our silence even if  we thought it was bad and we could not fight the system, most of us joined it in one way or another anyway.   

Pillaged without  care

MOTHER EARTH IS NOT WICKED - FOR NOW IT IS BUT A SLAP ON THE WRIST.

Yes, this Covid 19 outbreak is for now but a slap on the wrist and we had better take this slap on the wrist seriously.

The  next generation is watching they will come to the realisation if we do not and they will disown us, they will trample on us and get rid of us like a heap of rubbish  their destinies are at stake so who can blame them. We have to take it back for them or face the dire consequences a punished and a cursed generation, that is us.

Our children learned what care for the environment means , they have learned and are still learning of how to care for our natural resources. They are learning that money is not everything, less and less of them are even keen on owning a house, they want to see the earth in all its glory, they want to travel, they want enjoy the natural resources many of them have never seen, they want it there for them and their children and their children's children, they can't have it if we continue with these selfish ways and they'll know it soon enough.

I had a friend who once told me that his nephews an nieces visited the family home in Ipoh, they were naturalized Singaporeans, and they spent  a whole day looking at those big birds in the surrounding of the house and when told they were chickens they could not believe it, this is a very true account, and ironically it happened to my grandchildren here in Klang ... imagine in Klang.

Now we are forced by mother earth to reflect, reflect on our selfishness, our pride, our greed, our carelessness, to reflect on our values, on how much we care for ourselves our neighbours, our community, our surroundings, our natural resources, our children and their future here on earth, on the less fortunate, on the prisoners, the down trodden, the sick the lonely, the orphans the widows, the tramp on the street, the beggar, the drug addict, the prostitute, the hungry and the dying, and to resolve to take care of all of them, for if we don't, even to  the the least of these we are doomed. Examine the situation carefully.

Our greed has driven us to this edge

This caring will make us  less lavish, we'll do away with what is not absolutely needed,when we cut  our lavishness we will protect the environment, we use less of its resources, we will not pillage, and in caring we will have more friends - true friends, we will be happy together, for what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss of his own soul, we have to discard our greed.  

We are forced into solitude today, a time forced upon us for that reflection, we must come out of this fully aware that it is not I,  for I can't live alone without the others.

The resources are for all living creatures by mother earth nothing there is mine or only for the human race, we have to share them amongst ourselves, we are all earthlings and everything on earth is meant to be shared by all earthlings, the trees, the animals, the birds, the insects, it belongs to all of God's creation if we are going to take it only to fulfill our own selfish greed, it will become untenable and we will no longer belong, we will be wiped out, the balance has to be preserved, if you look at it carefully if we take out the top of the food chain that is us the rest below will thrive. 

Mother earth can go back to be the red hot barren rock she once was without all living creatures, but she is saying why should I, these other  creatures did no wrong and reserve the right to inhabit the place without this selfish and thoughtless group - Humanity.

The choice is ours live and continue as inhabitants of this beautiful earth, or become extinct or prepare to go live in another earth without all these resources - go to Mars perhaps but that too a select few will be chosen and if we can't get over this we can never live on Mars either not Humanity we are too selfish for our own survival.

At the end of the day it's, "what is there in it for us the whole of the earth rather than what is there in it for me" or just humanity.

The dog, the pig, the chicken , the crow , the shark, the tiger, the dolphin, the lion, the Zebra, the cow, the worm, the birds, the bees the butterflies everything counts, the trees, the air we breathe the waters of the sea and the land the earth belongs to them too, and what we take from the earth must not exceed what we absolutely require for ourselves, because it belongs to all creation.

WITH ITS BILLIONS MAKE SOCSO RELEVANT IN THESE TIMES

GOVERNMENT MUST STOP TEXT BOOK SOLUTIONS FOR HR PROBLEMS

 by; Francis T Rozario
3/24/2020   21.49

The latest initiative to allow workers to withdrew five hundred ringgit per month from their EPF is a akin to telling the workers to go pay themselves with monies they have saved for their retirement.

It is well known that Employees Provident Fund savings are insufficient to sustain most contributors when they retire, and if this government has not realised this they are out of touch, terribly out of touch.

To make matters worse the the Ministry of Human Resources  has come out with statements saying Employers must pay workers their salaries which is understood as full salaries.

The  ministry is providing text book solutions and we do not need a Minister to come announce that.

SOLUTION PROVIDED BY LAW.

The law on wages regarding lawful deductions can be used to address this situation, and the Minister of Human Resources has to apply wisdom studying the implications of the current situation using the proviso of section 24 (7) to allow for  deductions of wages either in part or in full by the employer during this period  a proviso the Director General of Human Resources has the authority to use and implement..

Section 24(8) however stipulates that such deductions shall not exceed fifty percentum in any one month and considering that the current situation if the MOC remains at two weeks the employer bearing fifty percent  may seem fair.

However in this period of downturn in sales and the double whammy  of this shutdown  may make the situation  a burden too heavy for the employer to bear.

Covid 19 is without precedence accordingly the measures we take should have none either if industry is to survive.

Malaysia has never witnessed or experienced such a situation, it is a calamity that has has no precedence, and to deal with it we have to take measures never before taken and every Malaysian will have to support the best measures available for us to ensure that this can be done, to meet the basic needs of the Malaysian worker and the survival of industry on which the nation and the worker are dependent on.

Employees must not be left in despair, certainly not at such times, they must have the security of their wages to allow them to look after their families, put food on the table and look after their other essential needs, it is a time for survival not high living.

SECURITY OF TENURE EVERYONE'S RESPONSIBILITY 

Having said that, employees must also realise the fact that this can only happen as long as they are employed, continued employment is a necessity that cannot be ignored and they too have to make sacrifices on their part.

If employers are squeezed excessively they may resort to retrenchment of the workforce, and even closing down of the enterprise, that will put employment at risk, and at  times like this when we can't expect too much foreign direct investment unemployment will grow and we can't afford that.

 This is a situation where the employer, the employee and more so the government has to play its part, the government just can't stand aloof and pass moves that actually benefits no one like the latest initiative allowing the withdrawal of RM500 per employee from the EPF.

This EPF move is literally telling the worker to pay himself so where is the care from the Government?
The government should instead turn to SOCSO, and make it more relevant, this is what Social Security is after all.

There must be no Sacrifice of the MOC to try and lessen this burden on Employer and Employee.

In an attempt to lessen these burdens to employer and employee the government should not sacrifice the lock down or what we call the MOC, that has to continue and judging from our present position maybe for another four weeks at the minimum with more stringent controls if we have to get this act in order to curb the spread of the disease.

Lessening the controls of the MOC to try and right the despair of the employer and the employee is  tantamount to abandonment of its duties by the government , and we do not want that, neither should we accept it.

MAKE SOCSO RELEVANT - IT NEVER  HAS BEEN

In Malaysia we have the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) to which both Employer and Employee pays a mandatory subscription to every month.

As stated earlier this Covid 19 outbreak has no precedence, so our actions will also be ones without precedence.

The government should scrap the EPF withdrawal plan of Ringgit Malaysian five hundred a month an get SOCSO to pay its members up to thirty percentum of their wages  for period of 12 months or until such time the situation returns to normal which ever is lesser to be reviewed at the time.

SOCSO has the funds and the government should use it, there is far more than 100 billion in assets alone in SOCSO.

If this is done and the Director General of Human Resources allows for the deduction of fifty percent in salary at this time, the employer can reduce his burden by  30 percent and the worker will receive  his fifty percent.

This is is the most meaningful exercise in Social Security  by a  Social Security  Organization, so go ahead please make SOCSO relevant. 

The Government does not need laws or  a precedent for this,  Covid 19 pandemic is without precedent and to do it is governing and that is precisely why we have a government.

To do their part, workers will have to sacrifice all the paid annual leave they are entitled to for the year to mitigate their loss of salary, this the worker has to do to be seen as contributing 
as a serious partner in this exercise.

The Government has to  lessen tariffs on Electricity and other utilities and suspend HRDF contribution for the period,  it is absurd to make such payments in a period training will grind to a halt except for very specific cases, this will also lessen the burden on the employer.

SOCSO contributions should be suspended during this period, and the arrears can be collected by SOCSO in installments when the situation normalises over a similar period as that of the the suspension.

EPF contributions shall continue during this period at existing rates, with Trade Unions and employee relations Managers in the non Unionised sector encouraging employees to increase their own contribution.

If these measures can be put in place Trade Unions must support it, but this is not to be a precedent for future negotiations on terms and conditions of service nor for the promulgation into law of these  conditions these will remain unprecedented measures for an unprecedented global calamity.

These are special measures taken at a  special time in our history and the history of the world we will learn with it.






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