MTUC’s Lo takes aim at Dr Sim over ‘confusing’ Covid-19 Facebook post

KUCHING: Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) Sarawak secretary Andrew Lo has expressed disappointment over what he said was inaccurate information posted on social media by a state minister regarding the latest Covid-19 situation in Sarawak.

He said Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian’s Facebook post on the state’s Covid-19 cases on Monday was “confusing” and could cause anxiety among the people.

“According to him ( Dr Sim), there are three cases from Cluster Wisma Saberkas. Yet in the same post, he also claimed: ‘Meanwhile, a new cluster is announced today (Monday) – Cluster Wisma Saberkas with eight new positive cases detected so far’. Which is which?

“This is confusing and contributes to the general despair and anxiety,” Lo said in a statement yesterday.

He also said that Dr Sim’s post seemed to preempt the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) and was not helpful, especially to workers suffering from the economic fallout of the pandemic.

With Kuching lately experiencing an increase in Covid-19 cases, Lo said the Health Ministry and SDMC have the unenviable task of managing and trying to contain the number of cases.

He said SDMC faced a great challenge in trying to formulate action plans to disseminate accurate information to the public to allow everyone to make informed and rational decisions.

“As expected, the millions of social media posts from citizens are not helpful at all. Most are not certified and the misinformation tends to create fear and anxiety at best and panic at worst.

“I appreciate it is difficult to prevent people to viral such misinformation. I know of many with more than 100 groups,” he said.

Lo said it was therefore disappointing that even ministers like Dr Sim have taken to posting regular updates and advisories on his Facebook page.

“As a minister and part of SDMC, most readers will take his posts as the gospel truth, nothing but the truth.

“However, some of his posts create unnecessary anxiety and are not entirely accurate,” he said.

SDMC chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah had on Monday announced that a new cluster, dubbed Wisma Saberkas Cluster, had been identified with eight positive cases detected.

Three of the cases were detected on Monday while another five were detected previously including the index case.