KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been in the spotlight since the Movement Control Order came into force on March 18, appearing on television daily to brief the people about the latest developments with regard to enforcement, sanitisation and other non-health related issues. In an interview with the New Straits Times, the senior minister for the security cluster speaks on a wide range of topics, from the implementation of the MCO to the people's discipline and his fashion choices.
A PERSONAL CHALLENGE
Question: Was it challenging for you in your new role? As soon as you were sworn in as the defence minister and appointed one of four senior ministers, the government's focus shifted to efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19. How did you adapt to this?
Answer: I have no experience as defence minister. I had never been entrusted that portfolio. However, I can always refer to and study ministerial records and decisions made to understand all matters related to the ministry.
The same cannot be said with regard to Covid-19 since the virus is new to all of us.
There is a special ministerial meeting daily to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the country and several ministries and agencies will provide their input.
The information from the meeting helps me to better understand the situation in the country with regard to our fight against Covid-19. It also helps me face the nation during my daily press briefings.
Since I am speaking on behalf of the government, I must ensure that the information given during the press conference is accurate and that it is explained in the simplest manner possible to enable the public to understand the situation we are facing.
Appearing on television every day to brief a concerned public, I cannot afford to make any mistakes. Every detail, even my shirts, are scrutinised. I have to answer questions correctly and confidently as it is a reflection of government efforts in combating Covid-19.
Q: How have the Movement Control Order and Conditional MCO affected your daily routine?
A: I work seven days a week. No off days. In the morning until the afternoon, I attend daily ministerial meetings or the National Security Council's special meeting at the Prime Minister's Office before updating the people on Covid-19 during my daily press briefings, which are aired about 2pm.
Later in the day, I will spend time at the Defence Ministry since that is my cabinet portfolio. Some days, I will even have my dinner at the ministry before calling it a day.
I am sad that I have been unable to see my granddaughter. It is "compulsory" for me to see her twice a week but now I can't. Due to Covid-19, we cannot move about freely here and there.
I haven't gone to my parliamentary constituency in Bera as interstate travel has not been allowed since MCO came into force. I constantly remind the people not to travel to other states, so surely I cannot be doing it myself. I hope my constituents will understand the demands of my task and that whatever I am doing is for the nation.
The time that I can spend with my family is limited, and this saddens me. However, this is the responsibility that has been entrusted to me in our fight against Covid-19, and it is one that I will fulfil.
Q: With your very busy daily schedule since the MCO came into force, do you subscribe to any particular health regime to remain fit?
A: I am passionate about my work. When you are, you will have the energy for it.
As a politician, I am used to working all the time. It's a normal thing for politicians to work five days in the office and spend the weekend in their constituency.
My friends sometimes send me messages telling me how tired I look when I appear on television, and I will reply that, yes, I am, in fact, exhausted, but I love my job.
I do consume some supplements and multivitamins to ensure that I am fighting fit throughout the day, but just the basics — Vitamin C and multivitamins.
And although I am very tired, one "habit" of mine is that I will try to reply to all the messages I get on my phone. I will check every message and reply them the same day even though it is just an "okay" or "thank you". Sometimes, I get ideas and feedback from the people who message me on how the government can better manage and contain the outbreak. I have raised these ideas at the National Security Council meetings.
FASHION SENSE
Q: Your penchant for wearing colourful batik shirts during your daily press conferences has captured the attention of viewers and drawn interesting reactions from them. They have compared your shirts to Ramadan delicacies on social media. Who chooses the shirts you wear for the daily press briefings?
A: My wife helps me choose and decides whether colour of my batik shirt matches the other things I am wearing.
Occasionally, I receive advice from my son-in-law, fashion designer (Datuk) Jovian Mandagie, on what to wear for the press conferences.
I am happy with the reactions from viewers who have compared the colour of my shirts with Ramadan delicacies. I can understand that as it is now the fasting month.
This also shows that the people tune in to the daily press conference at 2pm with full expectation to find out about the latest news with regard to the MCO and CMCO. While I believe they are more interested in the updates than merely seeing me, it shows that they pay attention to details. I take this positively.
DAILY MEETINGS
Q: Is it true that there are sometimes heated exchanges at the National Security Council special meetings?
A: Covid-19 is a serious issue as it involves the safety and lives of the people. When the issue is important, it will trigger differences in opinions since all of us care for the people. When this happens, discussions sometimes become tense. What is important here is that when we come to a decision, it is unanimous and agreed upon by all those who attend the meeting.
We decide collectively and the decision is agreed upon and endorsed by all participants of the meeting.
Q: Has the government decided on a threshold number of daily new cases for the nation to shut down again?
A: As I have mentioned previously, we have reached a phase where we are adopting a targeted approach.
Instead of placing an entire district, state or country under the MCO, the government will focus, narrow down and enforce the directive against specific localities that have recorded a significant increase in the number of infections.
This targeted approach is also enforced against clusters. For example, when we detected the (Seri Petaling) "tabligh" cluster, we immediately conducted contact tracing to contain the spread of the virus.
Another example is when the Health Ministry detected another cluster in a construction site in Kuala Lumpur. To contain the virus, we immediately instructed that the construction site be closed down.
If there is a sudden nationwide spike in cases, however, we will review the situation to decide on the next move.
SCREENING FOR FOREIGN WORKERS
Q: The government has made it compulsory for all foreign workers to be screened for Covid-19 and this will involve about RM1.2 billion in cost. Who will bear the cost? Although the government has said employers must bear the cost, they, in turn, have insisted that the cost is too high. What is the solution to this problem?
A: If one of their employees is tested positive for Covid-19, the government will shut down the company's entire operations. The government recently shut down the construction site in Jalan Ampang because we detected positive cases there.
If a company takes care of its workers as recommended, its entire operations may not need to be shut down.
Business operators must look at this in a positive way. The reason we instructed for the compulsory screening is because we want to save their businesses by saving their employees. We are worried about the emergence of new clusters involving foreign workers.
In addition, 60 per cent of foreign workers in Malaysia are Social Security Organisation (Socso) contributors and we've already said Socso would pay for the Covid-19 test for all of its contributors.
For non-contributors, the employers can always make an arrangement with their employees, for example, the employer may deduct RM50 monthly from the worker's salary. At the end of the day, employers are responsible for their workers because without those employees, the companies won't be able to operate. The employers are the ones who will have to face huge losses if this were to happen. Treat your employees as you would your family members. Like it or not, we all have to make sacrifices. I hope employers can make that sacrifice for their workers.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CMCO
Q: How has the people's reception been since the CMCO was enforced? Are they following the standard operating procedure?
A: The police reported that although there are more cars on the road now, the situation is under control. Against the expectations of the majority, including myself, who had thought that things might be a little chaotic on the first day, this wasn't so. It appears that Malaysians are well aware of how to behave and discipline themselves. They can self-regulate.
In the light rail transit trains, social distancing was practised. In boutiques, people did not try on the clothes or shoes. Business premises took body temperatures and made hand sanitisers available. People queued up to enter shops.
Many people had been concerned over the CMCO and criticised it, saying there would be havoc and chaos, however, this did not happen. Perhaps only a few cases but overall, the situation is under control. This is why self-regulation is crucial.
Q: There has been a petition against the CMCO. A renowned virologist and epidemiologists have signed the petition, claiming that the CMCO was implemented in a rush and should instead be enforced in phases. What is your comment on this?
A: There is no rush. If you look at it properly, we have enforced this phase by phase. We allowed a few sectors to open initially and then added more areas. Before this, restaurants were open for only takeaways, but now dine-ins are allowed with social distancing. We did not allow everything at once. I understand that the people are worried and we took this into account. There are also strict SOPs in place. As soon as there is a positive case, the business will be shut down.
Q: Why was the economic sector prioritised over the social sector under the CMCO?
A: The government is losing RM2.4 billion a day. Many are saying that "those who are experiencing losses are the big tycoons. Why should we care about the tycoons?"
We forget, however, that if these big companies close down, all of their employees will lose their jobs. So it is not just the big tycoons who are affected.
Can you imagine how many billions of ringgit we are losing now after more than 30 days of the restricted movement?
We can't even rely on oil any ore since oil prices have declined dramatically. At the end of the day, the government must think about the public. We predicted that more than one million Malaysians will be unemployed. How are we supposed to help them if we kept the companies closed? More will lose their jobs.
We also need to look at the small companies. Of course, we can help them a little by giving a few thousand ringgit, but we can't help them forever. We have problems with our income, so we cannot help all the time.
I was very sad when I saw so many of people queuing up at pawnshops. This is simply because they don't have money. Some may be a small-time stall operators, earning RM50 or RM60 a day, and they don't have money after having to shut down operations during the MCO.
It's been a month, what other source of income do they have? Because of all this, the government decided that we have to start thinking about the economy on top of health. There has to a balance between the health of the economy and the people. This is why we came to this decision and it wasn't made hastily. At the same time, we put in place plans to ensure that we are prepared for any eventuality.
Q: The fourth phase of the MCO (MCO4) was supposed to end on May 12 but now there is the CMCO. Is this allowed since MCO4 has already been gazetted?
A: The MCO4 was gazetted until May 12. However, we introduced the CMCO and gazetted it thereafter. This automatically means that the MCO4 is cancelled. When a new gazette is introduced, it will supersede the old one.
Q: Can the MCO or CMCO be challenged by anyone in courts of law?
A: In our country, any law can be challenged. We will leave this to those who want to do so. For me, this law on restricted movement has been studied in detail when it was first introduced in the 1980s and no one has challenged it so far. We have used it a few times in the past when there were outbreaks.
Q: When will our borders be opened?
A: We will stick to the current border-control rules and this include illegal routes. One of our concerns is the emergence of imported clusters because this has happened in other countries. Luckily for us, we don't have any imported clusters because of our strict border controls. We will review this when the time comes based on the advice of the Health Ministry.
Q: Will border controls likely be the last area to be opened up?
A: Yes, it is likely.
TERAWIH PRAYERS AND HARI RAYA CELEBRATIONS
Q: Can we expect a decision soon on whether Friday prayers and terawih can be performed in mosques?
A: Not yet. The religious affairs minister presented this during our daily meeting and we may discuss this with cabinet members. But the minister did mention that this will not happen any time soon. We will have to see what's the best solution based on the opinion of the religious affairs minister.
Q: Travelling interstate is not allowed but are people allowed to visit their family members and relatives during Hari Raya if they are living within the same state?
A: Although the government has relaxed the restrictions and allowed the public to travel beyond a 10km radius from their place of residence to get food, medical services and other necessities, visiting relatives during Hari Raya even though they are staying in the same state is not allowed. Hari Raya visits is on the list of forbidden activities during the CMCO.
I will be celebrating Raya at home in a "kain pelikat"!
PARLIAMENTARY SITTING
Q: The opposition has been calling for an online Parliament sitting. Can we expect this to happen?
A: To call for a Dewan Rakyat sitting, a date must be fixed and all members of parliament must be informed about this, which Parliament (secretariat) already did. On the one-day sitting, this is actually not something extraordinary as our state assemblies have done it previously. From what we can see now, social distancing will be difficult to enforce during a Parliament sitting, so to convene at Dewan Rakyat on a daily basis will be even more difficult. As for an online sitting, we have yet to discuss this.
ADVICE TO THE PUBLIC
Q: Do you have a message you would like to convey to the people in these extraordinary times?
A: I have said this many times that we must take care of ourselves. We must ask ourselves whether we want to be safe or not. Yes, we can go out now but are we going to bring our children out shopping? If the answer is yes, then I'd like to say that if anything happens to your child, it'll be your responsibility. Self-regulation and discipline is very important. We can have all kinds of laws but if we choose to break them, then we have to face the consequences. In Taiwan, they did not enforce MCO and yet, they have only six Covid-19 deaths and this is because their people are disciplined.