Many Malaysians woke up to a surprise on Wednesday morning, 30 June 2021 to learn of the prime minister's media statement by his office to publicly announce that he had been admitted to an unidentified hospital in Kuala Lumpur for diarrhoea. The 2 liner media release immediately caught the attention of journalists and the imagination of Malaysians.
It was unusual for a public figure to proudly announce his diarrhoea (definition: passing loose or watery bowel movements 3 or more times in a day) when he could have received treatment without public knowledge. Similarly, you won't see any celebrity, influencer or netizen to proudly announce that they are experiencing diarrhoea.
Diarrhoea is a common illness caused by food poisoning, etc that one would probably not even go to a doctor. One may get a outpatient treatment at a clinic or hospital if it is serious. It seldom requires hospitalization for treatment. Hospitalization may happen only if the symptom persists and remains serious for several days.
The eagerness to make a public announcement of a diarrhoea was most perplexing to Malaysians. There was no rumour that the prime minister office was trying to quash or clarify. His office was just happily announcing that he had diarrhoea and wanted to be hospitalized for it. What was the prime minister trying to get at?
Rumours swirled after (but not before) the media statement of the prime minister's office. Some accused him of evading a meeting with the king on that day itself whereby his majesty was expected to ask the prime minister to convene parliamentary seating immediately and before 1 August 2021, while others said that he might be unwell due to recurring of his pancreatic cancer. His office insisted that he only suffered a digestive system infection on 4 July and not a recurring cancer. Factually, the prime minister was still hospitalized for his diarrhoea after 5 days. The truth remained a mystery even though a clarification had been made mainly due to vague choice of words in the most recent media release. The morale of the story is to not issue a media statement when there is no necessity to do so, unless there is an hidden agenda unknown to others...
Equally Interesting Fact: The prime minister has been known as Muhyiddin Yassin officially for decades in Malaysia, when his actual name unknown to all Malaysians is actually Mahiaddin Md Yasin.
