{"id":116847,"date":"2021-08-06T23:39:10","date_gmt":"2021-08-07T05:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=116847"},"modified":"2021-08-06T16:24:32","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T23:24:32","slug":"malaysia-from-covid-role-model-to-a-mini-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/08\/06\/malaysia-from-covid-role-model-to-a-mini-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia: From COVID role model to a mini-India"},"content":{"rendered":"

James Chai <\/a>Political analyst based in Kuala Lumpur Courtesy Aljazeera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

What Malaysia\u2019s raging COVID-19 crisis tells us about failed leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family members of a victim of\nCOVID-19 pray at a hospital mortuary before burial, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia\non May 23, 2021 [Reuters\/Lim Huey Teng]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The horrific and\nheartbreaking scenes at Malaysian hospitals are akin to a disaster movie. An\noverwhelmed healthcare system and overworked medical staff have struggled to\ncope with the exponential growth in COVID-19 admissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canvas beds have\nbeen put up in hospital car parks, several patients have had to share the same\noxygen canister, and some life-saving procedures had to be performed on\nhospital floors. Doctors have reported that whole families have been admitted\ntogether to hospitals and some have died together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading<\/p>\n\n\n\n

United Airlines latest US firm to mandate COVID jabs for staff<\/a>US economy adds 943,00 jobs in July as recovery powers on<\/a>Philippine capital in new lockdown as thousands rush for\nvaccine<\/a>Fear of arrest among undocumented risks Malaysia vaccine push<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To keep up with\nthe rising death counts, bodies have had to be stacked up on trolleys and\npushed to the morgues. Volunteer undertakers have been handling nearly 30\ntimes more bodies than they did last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, I just\nhave no emotions, it is what it is \u2026 death has become so frequent that you\nbecome numb,\u201d one front-line worker told Malaysian outlet Malaysiakini.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malaysia\u2019s\nbiggest COVID-19 fear was becoming a mini-India and unfortunately, it has come\ntrue. Its daily infection and death counts per capita surpassed India\u2019s peak.\nAt the end of July, Malaysia\u2019s daily cases per million people stood at 515.9\nand its daily deaths per million were at 4.95; by contrast, at its peak, India\nreached 283.50 cases and 3.04 deaths. The country also has the highest\nper-million cases in Asia, and one of the highest per-million deaths in\nSoutheast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a\ndramatic reversal of fortunes for a country once deemed the role model in\nhandling the pandemic. Just a year ago, Malaysia celebrated as local\ntransmissions reached zero for a few days, garnering praise from foreign\nexperts, academics, and organisations such as the World Health Organization.\nThe Malaysian government\u2019s swift actions to implement a full-scale lockdown,\ninvest in testing and medical facilities, and deploy proactive communication\nwith the public resulted in fewer cases than in the rest of Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malaysia\u2019s\ndirector-general of health, Dr Noor Hisham, was given the highest civilian\nhonour and was named alongside the US\u2019s Dr Anthony Fauci and New Zealand\u2019s\nAshley Bloomfield as the top health officials in the battle against COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the\ncountry\u2019s success was also its curse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government\ncomplacency<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Not unlike\nIndia\u2019s early celebration of success, Malaysia was too quick to\nself-congratulate for containing the virus. The government grew overconfident\nwith the good results of its anti-pandemic measures in 2020 and in August\ndecided to hold a state-wide election in Malaysia\u2019s poorest state,\nSabah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the\ncampaign period, airlines increased flight frequency to ferry politicians and\nsupporters in and out of the state. In total, 257 rallies were approved and\nmany were held with little social distancing, mask-wearing or adherence to\nhealth guidelines. On election day, 1.1 million voters turned up at polling\nstations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers from\nthe National University of Singapore found that the Sabah election\ncontributed 70 percent of cases in the state itself and at least 64 percent in\nthe rest of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the following\nmonths, as the number of cases continued to rise, the government engaged in\nrounds of denialism, stating that the situation was still manageable\u201d and\nunder control\u201d. Interstate travel was allowed and restrictions\nloosened in December, although the country experienced a nearly tenfold\nincrease in cumulative cases from October to December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January,\nmedical professionals wrote an open letter to Malaysian Prime Minister\nMuhyiddin Yassin about the impending disaster at hospitals if the contagion\nwere not controlled. But government complacency meant little effort was made to\navert it. Restrictions were half-hearted and unscientific, and when a\nnationwide blanket lockdown finally came in June, it could not stop record-high\ninfections numbers, with cases nearing a million \u2013 in a country of only 32\nmillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lack\nof unified chain of command<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Apart from its\ncomplacency, the health emergency of 2021 also uncovered the absence of a\nunified chain of command in Muhyiddin\u2019s government. His cabinet comprises\nministers from different parties who are political rivals and therefore, are\nmistrustful and uncooperative in their collective work. Public spats between\nthe different factions of the prime minister\u2019s party, BERSATU, and UMNO, the\nlargest party in government, have resulted in contradictory decisions and\nconfusing policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May, as the\nhealth crisis was accelerating, Zahid Hamidi, the president of UMNO, asked the\npublic not to link Muhyiddin\u2019s failures to his party, despite UMNO being a\nmember of the coalition government. It is true that [we] are part of [the] government\n\u2026 [but] most of our views and advice about COVID-19 do not get much attention,\u201d\nhe said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the situation\nworsened, so did cabinet infighting. In June, Defence Minister Ismail Sabri\nfrom the UMNO party posted a photo of himself with the cryptic caption I have\nclosed the front door but \u2026\u201d The image implied that the lockdown measures he\nintroduced were ineffective because Azmin Ali, the international trade minister\nfrom the BERSATU party, continued to allow non-essential industries to operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Malaysians\nwere furious after local media outlets reported that non-essential\nbusinesses like photography studios, electronic goods factories, and\nleather furniture workshops were able to obtain an approval letter from Azmin\u2019s\nministry to continue work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confusion about\ncontradictory policies, such as the temporary closure of some malls and bazaars\nand the issuance of police permissions to travel, have only worsened the\nsituation. Clear communication and policies were absent when they were most\nneeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loss\nof legitimacy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another\ncontributing factor to the massive COVID-19 crisis is the government\u2019s\ndiminishing legitimacy, which has resulted in low public compliance with\nanti-pandemic measures. Instead of acting as role models, ministers and elected\nofficials have consistently broken COVID-19 rules, giving rise to claims of\ndouble standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ministers are\nexempted from the compulsory 14-day quarantine period upon return from\noverseas, while members of parliament have been allowed to travel abroad\nfreely. There have been reports of officials not abiding by lockdown\nrestrictions, including ministers dining at restaurants when it was not\nallowed. When they have been caught in violation of the anti-pandemic measures,\npunishment has been far lesser than what ordinary Malaysians would have faced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These incidents\nhave fed growing public resentment, which has discouraged many Malaysians from\nabiding by the COVID-19 rules. Inter-district and inter-state travel bans have\nbeen ignored, while barricades set up by the police have been burned as a form\nof defiance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This anger and\nfrustration came to a boil when hundreds of mostly young protesters took to the\nstreets to demand the prime minister\u2019s resignation. The rally, featuring\nbanners, placards, black flags, and effigies of dead bodies\u201d, passed through\nKuala Lumpur\u2019s major roads on July 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But perhaps the\nmost significant indication that the government has lost legitimacy is that\nMalaysians are increasingly looking to each other for help as the pandemic has\nleft them impoverished and desperate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many, including\nthe prime minister, believe that the poorest 40 percent of Malaysian society,\ncalled the B40 (bottom 40 percent), has now expanded to B50. Average salaries\nhave fallen for the first time since 2010, cutting across all demographics.\nSuicide cases have soared, and the number of calls to distress hotlines has\nrisen to concerning levels. Millions are out of work and trapped at home with\nlittle savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having lost\nfaith that the authorities can provide for them, families have started putting\nup white flags to ask their neighbours for help. Whole communities\nhave mobilised to provide for those struggling to cope. Ordinary people have\nset up food banks nationwide to help others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\nmini-market owner in the small town of Johor Bahru set up a rack in\nfront of her shop as a makeshift food bank. Though many came and took what they\nneeded, the supplies never seemed to run out. Then she realised that the food\nbank was quietly replenished by nameless and faceless donors on her behalf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stories like\nthis one demonstrate Malaysians\u2019 resilience and the strength of their community\nspirit. When this pandemic is all over, those who survive will celebrate this\nspirit for helping them pull through, and not the failed policies of a chaotic\ngovernment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Chai Political analyst based in Kuala Lumpur Courtesy Aljazeera What Malaysia\u2019s raging COVID-19 crisis tells us about failed leadership. Family members of a victim of COVID-19 pray at a hospital mortuary before burial, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on May 23, 2021 [Reuters\/Lim Huey Teng] The horrific and heartbreaking scenes at Malaysian hospitals are akin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,174],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category--19-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116847\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}