The black and white of Malaysia’s Covid-19 response

 

The white flags have been up for more than a week. And now, the black flags are up. What does it mean?

Let’s look at the white flags first. The citizens’ initiative has exploded across the country, with families desperately needing food and other basic necessities flying a white flag to attract the attention of members of the public who wish to help.

Initially, I thought it won’t take off as many ordinary Malaysians feel a certain sense of shyness or shame, even a loss of honour, about asking others for food or other aid if they are physically and mentally able. Even the poorest person has his or her sense of dignity.

But everyday I’m seeing white flags go up. These days, you don’t even have to go out to know this, as social media is full of it. It is clear that some people are in desperate situations.

On one hand, Covid-19 is causing havoc, on another, the medicine itself – and I mean the lockdowns and other measures – are disrupting lives and causing people to go hungry. This is because, many have no income: they have either lost their jobs or cannot go out to trade or do whatever else they did to keep their families going.

It’s heart-wrenching, really.

During previous lockdowns, most of the poor and lower-middle income groups managed to keep going with whatever they had saved, government handouts and aid from friends and non-governmental organisations and associations.

The latest total lockdown from June 1 has simply been unbearable, resulting in the birth of the #benderaputih hashtag and white flags going up. It is a signal that the people do not trust the government to take care of them; it is a signal of anger and frustration over the limp or mismanaged government response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Even the head of management of the health services division of the Malaysian Armed Forces, brigadier-general Dr Mohd Arshil Moideen, noted that a lack of unified action and coordination right from the top to the bottom was hampering the fight against the current wave of Covid-19.

This, Astro Awani reported him as saying, had contributed to delays in the control, diagnosis and isolation of Covid-19 cases. “In a war like the war against Covid-19, we need to have a single line of command to standardise strategy that everyone can follow,” he added.

Some people are dying from the disease while some others are committing suicide due to problems arising from both the disease and the economic disruption that has robbed them of their livelihood. We don’t know how many will die over the next few months or years from ailments caused by ill health due to their inability to eat nutritious food or worry over their family’s future or a combination of both. We don’t know how many will be forced to steal to feed themselves and their families.

It is therefore not surprising that some are prepared to hoist white flags so that they can at least feed their children and themselves for now.

It takes courage to fly the white flag. For it means that that particular household is unable to manage itself, or has failed.

On the macro level, of course, it is an indictment of the government and it’s failure to contain the pandemic and ensure its people get all the aid they need – despite the billions of ringgit it says it has spent on controlling the spread of the virus and providing relief to the public.

Having said that, I would like to point out that from a global perspective, citizens of several other nations are also unhappy with their own governments, so it is not as if only our government is incompetent or has failed to do a decent job. We need to keep in mind that the Covid-19 pandemic is a new experience for all governments. But that, of course, is no excuse.

Not everyone is happy with the white flag campaign, and that includes some officials and political leaders, particularly leaders of PAS. They see this as an an act of surrender or an act of propaganda. So much so that PAS’ Kedah menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said his government would not respond to those flying the white flag as it was “political propaganda”. Instead, he urged Kedahans needing assistance to do so via the state’s disaster operations control centre hotline.

There are those who are unhappy with the black flag campaign too. The three-day physical and online campaign that began on July 10 is to protest against the government’s handling of the pandemic.

The organisers – calling themselves the Sekretariat Solidariti Rakyat – have made three demands: They want Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to resign, the state of emergency to be lifted and Parliament to be reconvened immediately.

“After almost seven months of the Emergency Ordinance in place and a month into the implementation of the nationwide lockdown, the government has still failed to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Yesterday, over 8,868 new Covid-19 cases were reported, with over 135 deaths – the highest number of Covid-19 related deaths in a day to date,” the organisers said on Friday.

Listing some of the failures of the government, the group said this showed the Perikatan Nasional-led government had failed to lead Malaysia out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although it is supposed to be a three-day campaign, it may not end today. This is because the group has called on people to “continue to #Lawan (fight) until the demands have been implemented”. Going by the tweets shared and postings on social media, it is clear that a considerable number of citizens share their sentiment.

If after more than a year of handling the pandemic, and with an Emergency in place, the government cannot control the spread of the disease – in fact the cases have actually risen after the Emergency was declared – then you can’t blame the public for saying the government has failed.

Especially if you note that Covid-19 hospitals are overflowing with patients, beds for patients are being placed in whatever space available in public hospitals and there is a lack of equipment to handle the cases. Not to mention the confusing standard operating procedure and lockdown rules. People have a right to ask what happened to the billions of ringgit allocated to fight the pandemic and question the ability of the Cabinet and policy implementers.

Also, didn’t the government learn from what was happening in countries such as Brazil, the US and India and prepare the necessary facilities and equipment to meet a possible similar scenario here, given the fast spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants?

Certainly, opposition parties will support the black flag campaign. After all, they want Muhyiddin out so that they can take over. That’s politics.

I would implore the government to see both the white and black flag campaigns as feedback.

The colours white and black are considered the opposite of each other. But the white and black flags being flown today in Malaysia – despite being different – have the same message: Help us; we are fed up; do something to reduce or eliminate our suffering.

The two flags are urging the government to improve its performance or step aside and let someone else do it. The black flag is saying this directly while the white flag is more subtle. It is a plea from suffering Malaysians.

Amid all this suffering and incompetence and flying of the flags, there is heart-warming news too: So many Malaysians of all racial and religious backgrounds are stepping up to help one another. I keep getting video clips of various groups distributing basic necessities to those in need.

Some Malaysians are moving around distributing food and other items while others are donating money to help them continue their work. This transcends boundaries, including the boundary of race and religion.

To these kind hearts I say: Bravo! You are neither flying the white flag nor the black flag; you are flying the Malaysian flag. In helping others, you are proving your humanity. You are also adding to your good karma.

I am reminded of the Tamil saying: “Makkal sevai, Mahesan sevai”. It means service to people is really service to God. May God bless all you wonderful people with the strength and spirit to continue with your uplifting work. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

✍ Credit given to the original owner of this post : ☕ Malaysians Must Know the TRUTH

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