Blog
The Need for Trust in Testing Times
Ian Chee
Ian Chee is a 1st year BSc Economics student at University College London. He writes on Malaysian politics, economics and governance.
“Duduk diam diam di rumah.” Sit quietly at home. This was the plea of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on the 18th of March 2020, when the government’s Movement Control Order was first implemented. Muhyiddin informed that “there could be an extension of control if the outbreak was out of control within two weeks.” Fast forward to the 25th of March and we are now faced with a two week extension (ends on April 14), with the number of positive cases “expected to increase.”
The MCO was implemented to break the chain of infection. A new study from the Imperial College London COVID-19 Response Team states that the purpose of a lockdown is to “reduce the number of people each confirmed case infects.”
Source: Astro AWANI
However, the MCO will only work if everyone complies with the order. This has yet to be the case. Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob stated that “there are still many who do not care about the orders from the government.” 110 arrests have been made as of the 25th of March, with one of the cases involving three members of a tabligh Islamic missionary movement who were arrested as they were attempting to flee a roadblock near Georgetown, Penang.
Do your part and stay home. It’s all we can do. pic.twitter.com/dLOkV3znNe
— juan delcan & valentina izaguirre (@juan_delcan) March 16, 2020
It is disappointing that our police force is insufficient to maintain order during this period, thus requiring our army to be involved in this process. Perhaps this is reflective of our nonchalant attitude and our irresponsibility.
Everyone has to understand that life at this point is not normal and you have to be disciplined to heed this order. Note that the liability for non-compliance includes a fine and/or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years. This has already been enforced against a 33 year old man, who pleaded guilty to a charge of voluntary obstruction from discharging his public functions and was fined RM 5,000.
But rather than immediately rebuking those who disobey the order, we must first consider why they are willing to do so despite the repeated warnings.
The erosion of trust through inconsistency and miscommunication
Ignorance and irresponsibility clearly plays a huge part in creating disobedience. Some people are perhaps misinformed on the severity of the situation while others simply do not care about the implications of their actions. Others are making non-essential trips to supermarkets and pharmacies, rushing to stock up for the upcoming weeks to come. The prime minister has said that “there is enough food around,” with the Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry instructed to monitor the situation.
But many are still uncertain about the sufficiency of food stocks in the country. This is perhaps exacerbated by the constant sight of empty shelves and racks in supermarkets. Such uncertainty also extends beyond shortages and to other areas such as job security and even housing instability. With regards to the latter point, the Singapore government has said that it will not extend temporary accommodation being provided to stranded Malaysian workers. This will undoubtedly worsen anxiety amongst those in Singapore, which may lead them to cross the border again to return to their respective homestates – defeating the purpose of the MCO.
This exposes a significant weakness in the government’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak and the measures it has implemented to slow the spread – many of the messages and actions from the government are contradictory to each other.
For example, there was confusion over the use of face masks. DBKL stated on Sunday (March 22) that the public should wear face masks when entering stores and restaurants. However, Tan Sri Annuar Musa, the Federal Territories Minister reiterated that it was not compulsory to wear face masks and called on them to follow the Health Ministry guidelines. Defense minister Datuk Seri Ismail has also supported this statement, insisting that “no police, soldier, municipal councils, or supermarkets can enforce a ruling that one has to wear a face mask to enter the premises.” The confusion was worsened with some premises insisting its visitors wear masks despite the defense minister having said that they can “advise wearing face masks as a safety precaution, but cannot stop customers from entering the supermarkets without one.”
Source: Free Malaysia Today
A more serious act of spreading misinformation came from our own health minister Dr Adham Baba, who stated that “drinking boiled water, making sure it is warm as the virus does not like heat.”
Trust is earned and it is built on consistent communication to the public. Mistakes like these have a long lasting effect on the reputation of not only our government but also on our doctors and nurses who serve our country at the frontlines in the war against this pandemic and other diseases. During this time, we must be able to trust officials without having to verify the information that is broadcasted ourselves. The Center of Economic and Community Development states that “without a purposeful and consistent effort to foster trust and build strong relationships at every step of the way, even the best-designed and thoughtful engagement processes will almost certainly either fail or fall far short of the success you seek to achieve.”
These are testing times. We must be able to trust not only our government to do its job in supporting the people but we must also trust our own community members to act responsibly. As Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Arden eloquently phrases; “every move you then make is a risk to someone else. That is how we must all collectively think. That’s why the joy of physically visiting other family, children, grandchildren, friends, neighbours is on hold. Because we’re all now putting each other first. And that is what we as a nation do so well.”
We as a nation have yet to put each other first. We must aim to do better. To be better. And we will be better.