Muhyiddin’s stewardship one year on

Leadership: Muhyiddin delivering the One Year: Malaysia Prihatin keynote address at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre yesterday. — Bernama

ANY fair-minded person would acknowledge that for a whole year Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has managed the affairs of the nation relatively well. His stewardship is all the more remarkable when we consider that for most of the time that he has been Prime Minister since March 1,2020, there has been a sword of Damocles dangling over his head – a sword in the hands of four or five power-hungry politicians hell-bent on ousting him.

In spite of this he has ensured – with the help of his Cabinet, the Health Ministry and the nation as a whole – that the Covid-19 pandemic is effectively controlled while lives are protected and livelihoods safeguarded. Balancing lives and livelihoods is a Herculean task facing most governments. Malaysia is certainly within the top bracket of nations in the handling of the pandemic. Its mass immunisation programme, which began on Feb 24 with the vaccination of frontliners, is a huge step in the present phase in the fight against the invisible virus.