MALAYSIA has been locked down for more than a month now, but the number of Covid-19 cases shows no signs of abating. Last Saturday, Malaysia hit another high record of Covid-19 daily cases.

Things are so different now as compared to last year, when Malaysia managed to avoid the worst of the pandemic with the implementation of strict movement restrictions – what we know as MCO 1.0.

We’ve seen the rakyat air their grievances on social media with the #kerajaangagal hashtag – failed state.

In distress, the rakyat have taken to waving the white flag to call for assistance for food and basic necessities.

The people have not held back in voicing their grievances on social media since MCO 3.0 was announced. Many ridiculed the order as not being strict.

Ironically, even politicians in the ruling government were felt that the half-baked MCO 3.0 would not succeed in curbing the spread of the pandemic.

But then would strict enforcement of SOP alone be enough to prevent and control outbreaks?

Responsibility comes from us too

Since the massive outbreak that triggered the third wave of the pandemic last year, the government’s epidemic prevention policy has been criticized by the rakyat. Although Malaysia was once a nation proud of its capability in managing the pandemic and flattening the curve during the first lockdown, the prevention policy and its effectiveness were questioned by the rakyat when the third wave began.

It is believed that the main factor behind the failure is the government’s patchy announcement of pandemic management policies and poor planning by its various departments.

For the longest time, general public had thought that strict enforcement of SOP during the lockdown period was the best strategy for containing the spread of the virus and flattening the curve.

Scientifically yes, this approach can maximise the benefits of many non-pharmaceutical intervention strategies to break the chain of infection. However, have the rakyat ever thought about how the success a pandemic prevention strategy also hinges on the cooperation of the public?

As we all know, the transmission and infection of Covid-19 depends on human interaction and contact. Therefore, in addition to wearing masks and washing hands frequently, the main prevention measure is to avoid mass gathering and maintain physical distance between people, which is seen as imprecise by the public, such as restricting people from crossing states and districts.

Before that, there was also a policy of limiting the gathering of people to celebrate a festive day before the third wave happened too. In addition, the government had imposed harsher penalties on those who break the SOP for disease prevention.

And yet, the virus has spread at an even greater pace. The reason behind this may not be that the government’s policy is not rigorous enough, but the lack of conscience and sense of responsibility among the people.

Tight SOP but lack of cooperation

Since the implementation of MCO 3.0, the cases of SOP non-compliance are still high. Most of the Covid-19 infection clusters came from workplaces and now they are the source of the bulk of infections. 

According to news reported during the first week of MCO 3.0, some non-essential service companies had obtained a fake letters to operate during the lockdown period. As mentioned earlier, the effectiveness of breaking the infection chain depends on the mechanism of viral transmission and secondly, the premises with SOP to prevent the infection. 

In order to be effective in flattening the curve, tight SOP and prevention policies must be in place for the rakyat to follow. The Compliances Operation Task Force had conducted inspections and snap checks nationwide. Those policies and SOP include physical distancing, recording details prior to entering premises, wearing a face mask and imposing an interstate travel ban. 

Yet, the number of employers or rakyat who flout SOP is still high. From here, we can see that even with the tight SOPs, the employers or rakyat will still choose to be selfish and ignore the government’s restrictions.

Therefore, I believe that the implementation of the pandemic prevention policy does not only rely on strict SOP or policies. In fact, the policy needs more consensus and trust between the rakyat and the government.

The government’s decision is a window for the people to observe, recognise and evaluate the government, as well as an important link for the government to demonstrate leadership and build credibility.

At one point in time, especially during the MCO 1.0, the public’s criticism of the policy was not so controversial. Presumably at the time, the public had no clue about pandemic prevention policies.

However, during the MCO 2.0 and MCO 3.0, it is not difficult to see that the rakyat have disputed and shown distrust in the government’s decisions, feeling that the pandemic prevention policies had no effect and the had government failed in preventing the outbreaks.

It is difficult for any decision-maker to win support and trust of stakeholders, and at the same time be able to balance public health, economic and people’s livelihood.

At present, the actual situation of pandemic management policy in Malaysia is often the ongoing communication between the government and the people. On the bright side, of course, this shows that the government is responding and adjusting their policies and SOP according to the pandemic situation, rather than operating behind the scenes.

But this is so far not conducive, because government leadership and social trust are interrelated, and their role is the key to responding to the pandemic. Therefore, blaming each other does not help prevent the epidemic.

To build consensus and credibility in decision-making is a good way to resolve the current crisis and stop the pandemic from returning. Before the implementation of the full lockdown, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin also mentioned in his announcement that there will be several stages of lifting of restrictions, which he is undoubtedly hoping would be better received by the rakyat.

In June last year, Malaysia was in the recovery operation control order (RMCO) phase. The government had also successfully flattened the epidemic curve, reaching zero local infection in July and August, respectively.

Looking at we are now, it seems like this lockdown strategy has had no effect at all. Will the coming August be as successful as last year?

This really requires everyone to take collective responsibility, to promote the correct knowledge and actions of disease prevention, learn how to verify news sources, stop forwarding false news, add positive energy to pandemic prevention and complain less. – July 12, 2021.

* Esther Sinirisan Chong is a member of Agora Society. She was born and raised in the Land Below the Wind. Her research interest lies in education and government policies, and the history and heritage of East Malaysia.