The face of ‘stay home, stay safe’
With Perikatan nasional coming up to 100 days as the government of the day in the week ahead, Sunday Star puts Senior Minister (Security) datuk Seri Ismail Sabri yaakob under the spotlight.
HE became one of the two most recognised faces in Malaysia when he was tasked with keeping the nation informed about issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the last three months, at 2pm daily, Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has appeared live on television, divulging details like the number of people arrested for violating the movement control order (MCO) and places that have been sanitised as well as taking questions from the media.
He was pipped at post for the title of Malaysia’s current favourite son by Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah who also appears on TV daily to deal with the pandemic’s health issues and talk about the number of new cases of infection. Every other Covid-19 detail, though, is Ismail Sabri’s responsibility. That means security, MCO enforcement, people movement, sanitisation, re-opening the economy, and many others.
When Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin formed his Cabinet and instructed Ismail Sabri to take charge of non-health issues in the war against Covid-19, he was initially nervous.
During the Pakatan Harapan administration, Ismail Sabri, who is Bera MP, was the Opposition Leader. After Pakatan fell and Perikatan Nasional took over, he was made one of four Senior Ministers by Muhyiddin and now holds the Defence portfolio.
It was nerve-wrecking when he had to take the lead and deal with 20 ministers, especially when some come from opposite camps.
“One side I have some of my colleagues from the previous government (Barisan Nasional), and on the other side (Pakatan and PAS).
“So yes, I was quite nervous because I was not sure whether they would support me or not,” he tells Sunday Star at our exclusive interview.
But when they sat for the daily meeting they only had one thing on their minds. As the government of the day, they have to manage an unprecedented crisis affecting the whole world.
Ismail Sabri’s experience came in handy as he has previously helmed different ministries that mainly dealt with issues affecting the rakyat. Under Barisan, he held portfolios like Agriculture, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, and Rural Development.
There was concern at first over his appointment. As one observer pointed out, Ismail Sabri, 60, has no international portfolio experience and is viewed as an “ultra” Malay.
“But his experience in other ministries has helped guide him in making decisions,” the observer noted.
“In the early days of the MCO period, there was panic buying. Ismail Sabri understood the supply chain and advised the other ministers on how to tackle the problem.”
Not that there aren’t problems, Ismail Sabri admits.
“It depends. Some meetings are quite tense before we can come up with a decision on important issues.
“There will be opposition from my colleagues especially when it involves their ministries.”
As the country went into semi-lockdown, many businesses were affected badly. According to the International Trade and Industry Ministry, the Malaysian economy is estimated to have operated at 45% of its operating capacity due to the closure of nonessential services for four weeks after the MCO period began on March 18.
The government faced a dilemma because it was trying hard to flatten the curve of Covid-19 infection rates, as the number of new cases was rising daily when the MCO was first implemented.
“It is not easy for me and for the Health Ministry to allow the economic sector to reopen because we look at the health aspect. But for a Senior Minister like (Datuk Seri) Azmin (Ali), for example, he wanted all factories and industries to be reopened.
“So sometimes we had heated arguments because he thinks more about the economy but we think more about health.
“Frankly speaking, the more I thought about the MCO, the more I felt that I did not want to ease it because I was thinking, the tougher the better to break the Covid-19 chain.
“But at the same time we needed to start opening up the economy because we were losing around RM2.4bil a day. It is a big loss to the country.
“I could understand it when Azmin, Tok Pa (Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed) and others argued for restarting the economic sector.”
Looking back, Ismail Sabri gave credit to Muhyiddin for making an unpopular decision in implementing the MCO.
It was a difficult moment for the fledgling government that had only come into power in February. Malaysia had a small window of opportunity to stem the spread of the corona virus.
During a meeting chaired by Muhyiddin and attended by Ismail Sabri and several other ministers, they decided they had no choice but to impose the MCO after looking at the grim number of cases and deaths, especially in Europe then.
“When we introduced the MCO, there were so many things that the people were barred from doing.
There were more dont’s then do’s.
“We curbed the people’s freedom of movement. It is not a popular decision, we know. If we wanted to be popular, it would have been better for us to open everything.
“Nobody expected the PM to make the decision to impose the MCO. And for the whole country, not confined to certain places.”
Ismail Sabri says that that tough decision has resulted in the country in almost completely flattening the infection rate curve, and now Malaysia is in the recovery phase.
Hectic is an understatement when it comes to work since he came back as a Senior Minister. As the minister in charge of all nonhealth issues, he chairs the morning meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office complex in Putrajaya where Dr Noor Hisham is the first to speak and give the daily status on health issues.
“We meet every day, and every week we have two special National Security Council (MKN) meetings chaired by the prime minister, every Tuesday and Thursday. After all these meetings I will prepare the daily briefing for the PM. So it is seven days a week and daily press conferences too.”
There have been doubts about the figures given out daily, especially the number of cases reported.
“We are very transparent. I get the (non-health) data from the police, from fire services, from Nadma (National Disaster Management Agency) on compulsory quarantine. Even the Health DG all the data. We don’t hide anything from the people.”
Has the government ever gone against the advice of the Health Ministry (MOH)?
“I can’t. Nobody can. Even the Prime Minister also. Whatever decision made about Covid-19, must get advice from MOH. This is about health. Too technical for me to argue with the Ministry of Health on health issues,” he reveals.
As the country began showing improvement in containing the infection, more sectors were proposed to be opened up. But it was not just one man’s decision.
“For example, Azmin, as the chairman of the economic cluster, proposes about the economy, the Education Minister will table his proposals at the special ministers’ meeting in the morning. Anything related to policies I have to take it to the special MKN meeting chaired by the prime minister.”
With the recovery MCO phase starting on June 10, almost all economic sectors have been allowed to reopen. But the government is still too cautious to allow cinemas and swimming pools to be opened, as there are higher chances of virus transmission in these locations.
He insisted as long as there is no green light from the Health Ministry, he has no choice.
The three Cs come into play: confined space, crowded places, and close contact.
“There are a few things that we cannot compromise. For example, social distancing. Why we cannot approve the football league is because it is almost impossible to ensure social distancing at football matches, almost impossible. And then physical contact, it’s almost impossible to avoid physical contact during the match. That is why we said no to football, although we know they are facing hard times.
“They (football associations) are complaining, appealing, it’s very difficult for them to pay player salaries because there are no games and the stadiums are closed. But as I said earlier, all decisions are based on MOH advice. “
Ismail Sabri makes no apology for the government being what some call “extreme” on this matter.
“Life is more important than anything else,” he says matter-of-factly.
He also cautions Malaysians not
to be complacent now that the government has eased most restrictions, adding that they have to adopt the new norms.
Ismail Sabri says practicing social distancing, wearing a face mask and using hand sanitisers have to be the new culture for people, as a vaccine has not yet been developed.
“We want people to know that their lives will be different even though the recovery MCO will end, maybe, on Aug 31,” he says.
The minister points out that there is a possibility that the recovery MCO period will end earlier than Aug 31 if there isn’t a spike in Covid-19 cases.
However, he notes that whether there will be an extension or an early lifting of the MCO period will depend entirely on the advice of the Health Ministry.
“If they say lift up, then we lift up. But if they say to continue after that, then we will continue. Maybe not recovery MCO, maybe we will call it something else. But it’s up to MOH,” he says.
He also indicates that his daily media briefings end today. They will probably be done twice a week from now.
Despite still going to his Defence Ministry office in Kuala Lumpur, Ismail Sabri has spent 85% of his working hours in Putrajaya since he was made Senior Minister.
So his “stay home, stay safe” reminder uttered at the end of each press conference will be heard less frequently. And that is perhaps also a sign that the country is indeed on the mend as far as fighting the war against an unseen enemy is concerned.