By Mariam Mokhtar

Khairy Jamaluddin, the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, scored two 'firsts' last month.

He received the highest score of 11,125 votes in a joint poll conducted by Sin Chew Daily and Sinar Harian to commemorate the first anniversary of the Perikatan National (PN) administration.

On 11 March, he was voted the best performing minister in the PN cabinet, and on 18 March, became the first Malaysian to be injected with China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine.

Most Malaysians would claim that Khairy is enjoying a 'vaccine boost' because he is the minister in charge of the coronavirus vaccination program which is currently underway.

If Khairy received the highest score, what does that say about the performance of other ministers in the cabinet?

Would he have scored as highly if there had been no coronavirus pandemic?

We are concerned for Khairy's high ranking because many of us are still scrabbling for answers for the missing RM107 million from the sports ministry which Khairy helmed in the last Umno-Baru/BN administration under the felon Najib Abdul Razak.

We are also mindful of the manner in which the previous SEA Games was conducted, when sportsmanship was the last thing on Khairy's mind. The allegation was that he was only interested in politics.

Second place in the joint polls went to the Minister for Religious Affairs Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri (7,722 votes). Third was Minister for Defence Ismail Sabri Yaakob (7,261), fourth was Finance Minister Zafrul Aziz (6,728) and in fifth place was Muhyiddin Yassin (6367).

Interestingly 1,900 Sin Chew Daily readers refused to answer the question about the best performing minister, and 30% of respondents said that no minister had delivered.

Of the 24,370 readers, 62% were displeased with PN's performance whilst 38% claimed they were happy with PN. It would have been good to learn the detailed reasons for their displeasure.

On 28 March, Khairy told private hospitals that they would soon be authorized to negotiate with suppliers for the purchase of coronavirus vaccines.

He said, "People who are wealthy should not think they can pay for a shot this month or next month because the entire world is suffering from a lack of vaccine supply."

His choice of words is concerning. Why the reference to "them" and "us", "the rich" and "the poor", the "haves" and the "have nots"?

Our society is already segregated along racial and religious lines, but now Khairy adds the dimensions of class and wealth.

Where does the Minister for Health Adham Baba feature in the polls? He is assisted by two deputies, but most of the time these three are invisible to the public. At times, Adham makes the news for the wrong reasons.

Given that he is a qualified doctor, can he enlighten the public and explain why ministers need only be quarantined for three days, but ordinary people require ten days?

Why did Adham throw his Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah to the wolves? The DG was made to draw flak when he said that it was permissible for Deputy Federal Territories Minister Edmund Santhara to be quarantined in his own home on his return from New Zealand.

Ordinary Malaysians must stay in approved quarantine centers. Is wealth the deciding factor as Edmund lives in a sprawling mansion? Can't Adham handle tricky questions from the press and public?

In a curious twist, the Minister for Religious Affairs gained second place.

Recently, Zulkifli solemnized the wedding of actress Neelofa to her husband Haris. The public reacted with fury when they saw wedding photos of guests without face masks and ignoring social distancing.

As a minister, Zulkifli failed to set a good example. He should have walked away. Worse still, he declined to comment when he was questioned about violating the coronavirus SOPs.

Defence Minister Ismail Sabri, in third place, is another anomaly. He restricts our movements, but appears to do nothing about the increasing threat posed by the navy of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in our waters.

Some senior politicians and their aides, are free to travel inter- and intra-state, and overseas. The rakyat can't even instruct their MPs to raise issues in parliament as it is shut. Sadly, many MPs play politics with our lives at every opportunity.

Almost on a daily basis, we hear about old, established businesses closing shop because there is no business and no economic stimulus from the Ministry of Finance to help them through these challenging times. However, Finance Minister Zafrul enjoys fourth place. How is this possible?

There is one small comfort. Azmin Ali is one of the most despised politicians and he was ranked close to the bottom at 27th place, with a measly 1,390 votes.

Admittedly, there was an alarming number of fence-sitters in the online poll to gauge our feelings about PN's performance.

When it comes to the real thing in GE15, do you know what to do?

Source:

1. MySinchew: Khairy the star performer, Azmin fares poorly

2. MySinchew: Poll: Readers prefer PH to PN

3. BBC: Malaysia sites hacked after blunder over Indonesian flag

4. Malaysiakini: Cops to probe organiser of Neelofa's marriage solemnisation over SOP

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)