IT has been a rough year once again, just when we thought life is slowly getting back on track.

One of the worst flash floods our country has faced in decades hit several states last week, claiming dozens of lives and leaving tens of thousands of Malaysians displaced.

Many flood victims and netizens blame the inefficiency of the government and its agencies in disaster management and relief coordination, which left the victims out in the cold when they needed help the most. 

This time, however, netizens vented their frustration via Twitter, and somehow topped the trending chart with the title “Do not donate to the government”. Not something you see very often. 

The level of disapproval of the government and its disaster relief efforts skyrocketed the past few days.

I was told that even a local public relations firm, which was working closely with a certain government-related agency to raise funds for the flood victims, had decided to remove any mention of the said agency in all its communication materials at the very last minute before publication due to all the negative press going around. 

Governments collecting contributions from the public is not new and is widely practised around the globe. 

Besides open-ended donation channels, every now and then, our government reaches out to the public to collect funds for specific purposes. Among the government-initiated campaigns in recent years were the Covid-19 Fund to combat the epidemic and Tabung Harapan Malaysia, which was earmarked to repay a portion of our country’s national debt. 

Usually in times of disaster, a government is the only public agency that has the capability and means to identify and help those in need in a timely manner. 

But this time, it looks like the performance of most government agencies is lacklustre compared with that of civil society groups, which manage to mobilise swiftly. 

The contrast grows starkly when volunteers were the first to arrive at disaster sites to offer help while government officials were still busy attending cheap publicity events and printing their photos and names on relief aid boxes. 

And to add salt to the wound, government crisis response agencies were having coordination problems, resulting in delays in rescue and aid distribution. 

Such political stunts should not be tolerated, no matter by the ruling government or opposition. This is not the time to play the blame game or to score political points, not while lives are at stake. 

I will never be able to fathom how our politicians have the audacity to show such incompetence during a crisis. 

Putting their photos on aid boxes is something weird to do when the funds used are collected on their behalf, and they are merely the intermediary persons in which the donors entrust so that the funds will reach the right recipients. Therefore, it is not right to claim credit for oneself, especially when it is literally in your job description to take care of the people’s welfare. 

Another argument brought up is that the people pay taxes and, hence, should not be asked to contribute anything besides what is legally required. 

While yes, our tax money is collected to cover part of the government’s daily expenditure, which should include disaster management, national debt repayment, and so on.

Donations, however, are of one’s free will. When it comes to natural disasters, I believe it is a community’s shared responsibility where the public and the private sector come together to help those in need. 

Interestingly enough, people are willing to give, especially when one or two of these main reasons are met, which are to make a difference and for personal satisfaction. 

That is why most donation campaigns can easily reach their targets if they are for the right cause. 

Willing contributions to a government shouldn’t be an issue because not only they will make a difference but the donors will get personal satisfaction as well. It also comes with tax relief, among other benefits. Sadly, it’s just not the case this time around. 

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Mohd Harun completely missed the point of why people are against donating to the government when she defended the Keluarga Malaysia Flood Relief Fund against critics. 

Yes, the country is dealing with a crisis, but with the lacklustre performance of the government agencies, the people’s sentiment is that they don’t think it will make a difference by donating to the fund. 

Also, with more and more information available to the public, the people are beginning to question the transparency of the collected funds and how they are spent. 

Gone were the days where people blindly trusted the government. I believe if someone were to pull out the “patriotic duty card” to convince people to contribute, it would cause a major backlash. 

So the government will need to address this trust deficit problem quickly. 

From where we stand now, it is sooner or later that we will see people become reluctant to pay their legally required taxes, all due to the loss of trust in a government with a history of public funds being misappropriated, and being unable to channel funds to those in need when they are needed most. 

This should be dealt with because we need to have some tax reforms to tackle our country’s financial issues. 

The stronger the public’s disapproval towards the government, the more resistance it will meet when it is time to implement change, and it is likely that this trust deficit issue will be inherited. 

The whole two years of 2020 and 2021 were practically one big disaster. Let’s hope for a better year ahead. 

Thoughts and prayers go out to those who lost their loved ones and friends in the floods and to Covid-19.

While it is not easy rebuilding after a disaster, let’s hope that those in need can get the help and support they require to move on in life. 

Here’s to a better tomorrow. – December 27, 2021.

* Kelvin Lee is a member of Agora Society. Both a dreamer and realist, he is constantly figuring out ways to balance the two. He believes that by defying the norm, one can pave the way for a better future.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.