A friend has asked me as to why The Star had been relentless in criticising the handling of international travellers arriving at our airports since the border reopened on April 1.
He noted that there were several reports by the once mighty newspaper on the RTK-AG tests offered for international travellers at the airports.
This is one of the reports on April 7;
I noticed that The Star even assembled a team to do the report.
Quite impressive.
Five reporters being assigned to do a single report is such a luxury for any editorial team these days.
The Star's editorial must have placed this issue as its top priority, I believe.
Unfortunately, the report didn't get too far when the rather simple rebuttal came the next day;
excerpts;
In its statement today, MAHB said the latest standard operating procedure (SOP) states that international travellers are only required to do the RTK-AG test within 24 hours upon arrival in Malaysia at any private health facilities including clinics and hospitals of their choice.
It stated that the testing facilities at the airports were actually made available for passengers who wish to have the convenience of doing the tests right away upon their arrival.
MAHB also dismissed claims that there has been a monopoly in conducting such Covid-19 tests at the airports.
The whole thing was quite clear now, right?
But no, The Star editorial was apparently not done yet.
Its advisor Wong Chun Wai came out with this in his column yesterday,
The guy, who is now something like the Lim Kit Siang of The Star was basically repeating the same arguments before the MAHB's explanation on the matter.
He even further downplayed the importance of the RTK-AG tests.
Chun Wai really shouldn't be like that.
He is after all still too young to behave like Kit Siang.
Why can't he just admit that the test is a cautionary measure during our transition to endemicity?
What's wrong with going the extra mile in keeping Malaysia safe, eh?
After all I was told that there have been Covid-19 positive cases among the arrivals despite pre-departure PCR.
Remember those umrah positive cases a few months ago? Yup, they are the ones.
On the contention by Chun Wai and his team about the monopoly of those tests, well, that one had been explained already, what?
You want the test done at your convenience there upon arrival, you pay more lah.
Otherwise just take a Grab to some clinic or hospital from the airport and get it done there, maybe at a cheaper price.
Even KFC is more expensive at the airports, okay.
Life is easier if you have money.
Why? Was it so difficult to understand that concept?
For instance, if you don't have enough money, you fly AirAsia lah. No need to complain about the more expensive Malaysian Airlines tickets.
And then again, also don't complain about AirAsia's services. You were paying them only that much, okay.
Personally, I love Malaysia Airlines' services but when I don't have enough money and forced to fly AirAsia, Malindo or the other budget airlines, I didn't bitch.
As to why Chun Wai and his team were going all out on the issue....seriously, I don't know.
Maybe a client complained to them about the matter because it wanted to set up a booth at KLIA to offer the RTK-AG services too.
Yup, maybe that's the reason.
It has always been about money whenever The Star editorial go all out on an issue like that.
But then again I could be wrong.
Maybe it's just Chun Wai's girlfriend bitching to him about having to undergo the test when she came back to Malaysia the other day, forcing him to show his love by going after that issue.
You know lah, when a man is in love.
Errr, okay, okay I'm just guessing.
I don't know whether Chun Wai have a girlfriend, okay.
Relax Datin Seri Wong.
Whatever it is, I don't think he and his team should spend too much time and effort on that issue like that.
It only makes crazy people like me to develop fancy theories about why they are doing that.
Cheers.
to most foreign tourist and some locals that come back from overseas, its kind of monopoly, they are less informative where to do cheaper test. i watched a youtuber that complain cambodia departure test is usd120, i think thats pretty exorbitant, however klia charges seem lesser but to me its still very expansive especially for family.
ReplyDeletei think the star reporting do make sense though subject to argument, why not a further test from klia to next destination let say kl to ensure further cautious preventive measure? thus questions would arise how many test is deemed enough? we need a more consistent and standardized sop especially among asean countries, its either one test for all arrival or one for all departure, or either one is enough for either country, this would help resume and revive traveling and tourism. perhaps govt shd conduct a review to find out who contribute more, tourism or covid test.
Manusia mudah lupa ... it may look excessive now but if another super nasty covid variant emerges, the same ppl will complain that the sop are too lax.
ReplyDeleteIf ppl can't afford all the additional costs then duduk diam2 & go cuti2 lokal la.
Agree. If you are rich enough to travel, this kind of stuff is part and parcel of travel expenses. Have you ever landed in a third country full of scammers? The moment you embark from the aircraft, the smell of the country already is not that nice. The you get out of the airport, you get swarmed by beggars and fakirs. Lots of homeless sleeping on hard concrete. The streets littered with garbage. Poverty is everywhere. You get overcharge every whenever and wherever you go. From accommodation, food, travelling sightseeing etc. The time you spend in that country you get rip off left and right. You ended up broke.
DeleteAisay Annie....it's MCA paper so let them write whatever they want. Must there b a prawn behind d stone? Like this is yr blog....u can write whatever u fancy. Is there some reason behind yr point of view....like how u hold Jibby so high despite the truth starring right in front of yr face. Is it becos Wen u stim u think of Jibby? Let it be Annie, don't waste yr time on this crap.
ReplyDeleteLebih 1400thn zaman2 Nabi Muhammad saw dah ujud garis2 panduan, SOPs dan mcam segala nasihat on how best to protect and stay safe fm contagious diseases etc.
ReplyDeleteSkrg dah 2022, awat la masih ramai BLUR bab2 wabaq nih semua? Heran betoi.
Professor Nasi Lemak
Zaman nabi tak ada test rtk ag atau pcr & skrg ni satu dunia kawasan wabak, dah tak leh nak isolate dah.
DeleteLife must go on but with extra precautions.
Well if MPs are monkey then the people who chose them are monkeys too. Our MPs are the representative of the people and the people in their constituents too could be regard as such. If our MPs sometimes went overboard, aggressive or completely nuts in the course of championing the cause of the rakyat as being equal to apes, then that’s one of the saddest day of parliamentary democracy.
ReplyDeleteThe practice of democracy is always noisy. Always full of energy. Democracy is about free flowing of ideas and unhindered in the fight of people’s cause. After all it is the people who put them there first and foremost. Nobody expects an MP who enjoy various perks and privileges plus funding to their constituent just to sit there to look weak and passive. Otherwise he would be accused as being lazy and not serious to fight for the people’s welfare. Undeserving to be an MP.
One of the MPs, his grandfather was the first homeground leader to unite large crowd of locals and organised large scale protest against the British plan to turn Malaya into a pseudo republic. The Brits got scared, backed down and introduced Federated Malay States instead. His descendant has become an MP one after another ever since fighting for rakyat’s corner. Some of the monkeys in the legislative branch too had form an executive branch i.e. a government to administer the country’s affairs. It is headed by prime minister. Then we’re all actually governed by a bunch of monkeys. The government of the monkey for the monkey by the monkey.
Bila tgk MPs beraksi dalam Dewan mmg terus lemah semangat. Wonder how all these monkeys and katak2 will act in times of war like Ukraine/Russian war??
DeleteDAP sekadar berangan logo roket. Pemimpin negara2 lain sibuk hantaq roket mereka pi balik k angkasa lepas. Tst tst tst.
Debate bab KATAK2 pun amik masa brhari2. Patut sgt Sultan Selangor beli painting tuh.
Professor Nasi Lemak