Malaysian PM on Coronavirus Measures: ‘Daddy’s Sorry If He Has to Use His Cane’

Malaysia’s prime minister used an unseemly joke on Tuesday to imply that the country may enforce stricter anti-coronavirus mandates if a current outbreak worsens.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin addressed the nation in a virtual speech broadcast from his home on Tuesday. He first said that a recent and “worrying” surge of coronavirus infections in Malaysia would not lead to a second nationwide lockdown. However, by the end of his speech, Muhyiddin made an inappropriate joke to imply that the country could, in fact, face another lockdown should the situation worsen.

Local news outlet Coconuts Jakarta translated the prime minister’s joke into English:

‘Daddy’s sorry if he has to use his cane,’ the 73-year-old said in Indonesian, referring to possible stricter measures that may be implemented to curb COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] spread [sic].

According to the news site, “Abah (Daddy) is a nickname many Malaysians gave Muhyiddin after he began his tenure in March.” The prime minister seemed to capitalize on this nickname to incorporate the double entendre into his speech. Coconuts Jakarta described the attempted gag as “a joke nobody expected (or wanted) to hear.”

The act drew criticism from Malaysians online. One person wrote on Twitter of the joke:

Today, a one-year old baby died from COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] and there are 691 new infections. Also today, our Prime Minister called himself ‘abah’ and joked about needing to ‘rotan’ [cane] us during a national address on the COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] crisis. We need to do better than this.

Malaysia recorded its highest daily increase of coronavirus cases on Tuesday with 691 new infections. This brought the country’s total number of recorded cases to 13,504. Malaysia also recorded 141 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, including that of a one-year-old in the town of Semporna. The baby is Malaysia’s youngest coronavirus victim so far, according to the report.

Muhyiddin is currently undergoing quarantine for coronavirus after possible exposure to the virus during a government meeting on October 3. He broadcast Tuesday’s speech from his home for this reason. Muhyiddin’s office said he tested negative for coronavirus while still in quarantine on Wednesday.

“The prime minister is currently in good health. However, he will continue self-quarantine until the end of the 14-day period set by the ministry of health,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.