Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Jemut Masing is still mourning the demise of his younger brother Jantai Masing, 68, who died due to Covid-19 at the Kapit Hospital on May 31, just a day before the Dayaks in the state ushered in the Gawai celebration.
According to him, his late brother would have a better chance to survive Covid-19 if he had been given the vaccine as Jantai’s son Kudi, who nursed his father when he was infected by the disease, had survived because he had already been vaccinated.
“The choice is simple — vaccinate and live, don’t you die! Vaccine is the only tool we have to contain Coronavirus. Use it we must, if humans are to survive this deadly pandemic,” he told Bernama via WhatsApp today.
Masing, who is also the Baleh assemblyman, said the vaccination programme in the state constituency which is located in Kapit district had been well accepted by the people there but he wanted the federal government to guarantee that ample supply would reach the interior division of Sarawak fast.
The horrendous mismanagement of Malaysia’s present vaccine rollout has thrown a poignant light on the grotesque system of graft and cronyism established by the country’s ruling elite.
This is a regime that serves itself and nobody else and now that the storm has hit it is has been plain for all to see that cronyism and corruption cannot cope with a crisis such as Covid 19. All its structures and policies are designed only to steal from and not to administer the country.
James Masing’s youthful nephew received the vaccine because the government favoured so-called ‘essential workers’ over those most vulnerable to the disease, namely those in the age group of his father.
Essential workers were deemed to include the presently unemployed political classes, all laid off by the bogus ’emergency suspension’ of Parliament which is designed to keep minority PN in office (all so they can continue to cream contracts out of Covid amongst other forms of graft).
Throughout this appalling era of selfish power mongering by PN the salient feature as the pandemic raged has been the favouritism shown towards this political elite and their cronies and hangers on.
So it’s been jabs for themselves and chaos and confusion for everyone else (handily ‘justifying’ the continuation of the lucrative emergency rule).
How young Nicholas Kudi Janta must now personally regret this disgusting and selfish policy of his own government. It has resulted in the tragic deaths of his own mother and father, whom at least he was able to safely visit on their deathbeds owing to his own privileged vaccination. Being young he would have been at minimal risk anyway from Covid.
It is worth mentioning that in most countries Kudi would still have been required not to visit his parents at this tragic time because of the risk he could spread the virus without contracting it – but again special exemptions for ‘special people’ have been the hallmark of this pandemic in Malaysia. Millions of other families have suffered the sadness of separation to protect others.
Thanks to the same selfish policies, Uncle James has also been vaccinated. He at least qualifies by age, having like most of his political contemporaries in Sarawak occupied the same lucrative position for decades without doing anything visible to benefit the wider population.
However, the story of Kuti Janta has done more than this to shed light on the self-serving situation in Sarawak. This ‘essential’ politician qualifies for his special status having been appointed as one of no less than 32 political secretaries appointed by chief minister Abang Jo!
The prime minister of Great Britain makes do with one political secretary (and by the way he also waited his turn like every other political, royal or famous figure for his vaccination based on age and health). However, the impoverished taxpayers of Sarawak are forced to fund the perks and salaries of no less than 32 for this one politician, the posts being artfully divided out to benefit the families of the various leading political figures in order to bolster GPS and its grip on power.
Indeed, Sarawak and Malaysia are littered with such characters who have created a whole ruling class for themselves around the families of politicians living off the taxpayer. Down in the jungle they have a name for such creatures: they call them leeches.
Like a leech to your leg, these political bloodsuckers are now clinging to office as if their lives depended on it – which in fact they now do!