NUMEROUS banks have started promoting special financial relief programmes to reduce the Covid-19 impact on individuals and small-medium enterprises (SMEs). I was interested in knowing the details, but little information could be found on the websites of those banks. So I called the customer services of two banks to find out more about their relief measures for personal credit card debt. Surprise no surprise, the financial institutions’ hypocrisy and hunger for profit amid a pandemic shocked me.

The customer service operators explained that the crisis memorandum allows individuals to postpone their card payment for a maximum of six months. However, the financial charge of 17% per annum continues to accumulate during the memorandum period. One of the banks consulted allows individuals to apply for financial charges waiver upon the receipt of a lump-sum payment but gives no guarantee for the success of waiver. Meanwhile, the other bank I phoned requires individuals to pay in a lump sum both the credit card expense and financial charges upon the completion of the payment extension. Both of the operators, apologetically, tried to help by explaining those terms and conditions as clearly as possible. I asked one of them, “Do you think this measure is helpful?” She said no. I thanked her and hung up. But what I really wanted to say to her was “Sorry.” 

I am so sorry that the phone operators and the applicants of those relief programmes, who both understand the feeling of job insecurity, need to go through such humiliating conversations. I am so sorry that the most vulnerable ones in the society, again, bear a highly disproportionate burden of the Covid-19 crisis. Yet political and economic elites seek to advance their agendas and dodge their social responsibilities. 

Covid-19 is a pandemic health crisis, but it also reveals the structural injustice of our political and economic system. This free-market system has accustomed us to financial hypocrisy, to state failure of protecting the socially marginalised, and to the devaluation of humanity. We need more effective relief measures to help people combat the impact of Covid-19, especially for those most vulnerable  – the homeless, migrant workers, victims of domestic violence victims, the poor and the unemployed. Talk to your bank, your political representative, your company. Pay your employees if you can afford to, especially those who are paid by the hour.

Help those who cannot speak for themselves. It is during the darkest of times that humanity shines. – March 20, 2020.

* Jiayen Lai reads The Malaysian Insight.

* 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.