#JUSTSAYING: The government has issued a restriction order on our movements. We just had to defy it.

Following is a transcript of the video: 

Malaysians are a rebellious species. We think we are invincible. I mean, we are the people who refuse to use zebra crossings because we believe we can stop traffic with the power of ‘the hand’.

So when the government issued a restriction order on our movements, we just had to defy it. And this is despite warnings that we can be fined or even jailed for up to two years just for lepaking outside.

So why do we still behave like this? Because it’s inconvenient. I’m not sick, my friends are not sick, so much fuss for what? Well I’ll tell you what the fuss is for.

Once upon a time, Italy announced a lockdown. But the Italians thought it was silly to stay home, so they continued to go out.

And now? Italy’s healthcare system is threatening to collapse.

Narrator: The health system buckling under the onslaught. Patients contained although the virus is not. Families on lockdown, the dead are buried without them.

31 thousand cases and over 2,500 deaths. They’re running out of respirators and intensive care beds.

Their exhausted medical personnel so overwhelmed, they have to choose who to save, and who to let die. Waiting lists, even for funerals.

Back home, our Health DG is pleading with us to stay home. Because if we continue to take this lightly, we could face a third wave, and the next one, he says, will be bigger like a tsunami.

And may I remind you — Italy has about three hospital beds for every 1,000 people. Malaysia has almost two. And Italy is struggling.

So we need to ask ourselves: can we act like responsible adults? Can we, for once, think of other people, those who already have chronic illnesses, the elderly, the frontline medical personnel who risk getting infected as they try to save our loved ones?

Do we really need the police or army to start setting up checkpoints everywhere to make sure we can behave ourselves?

We just need to stay home. We already have the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia. The tsunami that our Health DG is warning us of is looking more and more likely by the day.

And when it does hit, Malaysia may not be ready. Just saying.

*The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the view of The Edge Media Group

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