YOU just have to take your hat off to Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai. Against the traditional practice of ordering the media to play down outbreaks of diseases for fear of frightening off tourists, Liow went the opposite way and did the job entrusted to him by the rakyat.

Yesterday, he did not butter his words in rebutting Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen's call to th  media to play down the H1N1 influenza issue. Dr Ng had, on Monday, blamed "energetic"coverage of the pandemic as having greatly impacted tour bookings to Malaysia.

Liow seemed not to want any of this "commercial interests first" talk, and declared the spread of Influenza A should not be taken lightly.

He hammered in the point by arguing that we should not sweep the issue under the carpet just because there has been no fatality in the country.

Playing the issue down would have great repercussions, and Liow openly warned against being complacent.

While the Health Ministry is determined to firmly keep the fatality rate at zero, there are fears though that the people are taking it easy because hospitals have so far been successful in treating the cases.

There is no need to panic, Liow says, but there is a pressing need to get people to be aware of the severity of the outbreak.

He, unlike Dr Ng, knows what he is talking about.

Word on the ground is that many people are not even aware of the symptoms of the dreaded flu. Some do not even know that H1N1 refers to what was once commonly called swine flu. There are others who say they do not have anything to worry because they do not consume pork.

The threat of this worldwide pandemic is real. It can cripple schools, companies, the nation even.

Our report today that some youngsters who attended a concert recently may end up contracting the flu is an indication of how serious this problem is.

Tourism, or rather, the tourist ringgit, is the least of our concerns at this point of time.

Dr Ng should not have been too carefree with her statement, for it can be misconstrued as putting the lives of Malaysians lower than the tourism ringgit.

In fact, blame no one for labelling her reckless, especially so when she is a medical doctor.