TANGKAK (Johor, Malaysia) April 27 (NNN-Bernama) — The government\u2019s decision to bar travellers from India from entering into the country is not discriminatory or racist, instead it is to curb the spread of a new COVID-19 variant, said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said the decision was taken at the special National Security Council (MKN) meeting he chaired Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYesterday, we made a decision, we bar or ban, don\u2019t allow people coming from India (to enter). This is not about racism or discrimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is to ensure the variant, that is so aggressive, that is from there will not cause infections here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo, we will not allow them to enter Malaysia\u2019s borders whether through air, sea or land,\u201d he said during his speech at the Gambir State Assembly-level Tahlil ceremony and presentation of Ramadan Al-Mubarak contributions at Masjid Jamek Simpang Lima Darat in Bukit Gambir here Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Muhyiddin, who is also the Gambir state assemblyman, said he had watched video footage of the current COVID-19 situation in India, which was quite horrific due to the spread of the more aggressive variant, that has claimed more lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I saw what\u2019s happening in India, like I said earlier\u2026 (such as) in Brazil (and) in many countries\u2026 the new variant has been found to be more aggressive than the original one. All these (development) put us in a very challenging situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t be complacent for even one day, we can\u2019t\u2026 because maybe in a day unthinkable things can happen and this can have an effect on the lives and economy of our country,\u201d said the Pagoh Member of Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of this, Muhyiddin admitted that the government faced difficulty in making considerations regarding the issue of opening the country\u2019s borders despite appeals from various parties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur borders remain closed although there are appeals from certain parties for them to be opened to enable movement, but we consider from various angles. Perhaps if we open (the borders) too soon, it could be a problem. If we don\u2019t, like now, it\u2019s also a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese are quite difficult considerations that I have to personally make if most of the cases are brought to the special session of the MKN which I chair,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, the Prime Minister appealed to all Malaysians to be more responsible and join hands with the government in dealing with the pandemic by adhering to the instructions issued by the authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c(Among them being) the way we interact, deal, socialise, carry out sports, school activities and so on\u2026 if not properly controlled and no legal enforcement is taken against those who break the rules, then we will never be able to overcome this pandemic any time soon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Muhyiddin explained that interstate travel was still not allowed because it was a contributing factor to the spread of COVID-19. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
— NNN-BERNAMA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TANGKAK (Johor, Malaysia) April 27 (NNN-Bernama) — The government\u2019s decision to bar travellers from India from entering into the country is not discriminatory or racist, instead it is to curb the spread of a new COVID-19 variant, said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. He said the decision was taken at the special National Security Council (MKN) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":113940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215,288,286],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120458"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/113940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}