melaka virus? bemban virus? same thing!

i was very amused when i read this letter from one dr TGM regarding the ‘meleka virus’. oops. sorry mr CM ali, it’s not melaka virus at all. should not associate your beautiful state with a virus, and i should not use the name without approval.

dr TGM could not understand why the melaka CM felt insutled over a virus being name after melaka, as to him it is an honoured to be name after a disease. however….

The Chief Minister was commenting on a reader who wrote in to a newspaper saying that instead of protesting, the state government should be proud of the name “Melaka Virus” as it involved a lot of research to discover it. 

“Who suggested it? Ask him to use his name. Simply using the state’s name means disrespecting the state, so if the person wants it so much, use the person’s name,” said Mohd Ali.

that was when he then said that anyone who wishes to use the name ‘melaka’ must get approval first.

first thing first. i would have agree with dr TGM that indeed it is an honor. wjhy, if the virus was named after me, i would have felt honored and proud. they respect me enough to name it after me! see, i have the exact opposite thinking of the esteemed CM.

secondly, didn’t the CM knows that usually a virus was named after the place where it was discovered. remember the nipah virus?

thirdly, how can a person who is a CM had such a thinking…

"Malacca is a good state, beautiful and peaceful, not the birthplace of diseases,"

.
….and even think of objecting to the name of the virus using his beloved state’s name at international level.

pity the health ministry had gave in to him and agreed to rename the virus. if not, i would love to see him do that – bring this to international level – and make a laughing stock of himself and the country!

well the health ministry said they would rename to virus to the name of the village, i.e. bemban, where the virus was discovered…. hey, mr CM, bemban is  in melaka state, don’t you know that? it is part of melaka, don’t you know that? oops! don’t tell me he is going to protest again??