WHEN Putrajaya suddenly declared the conditional movement-control order (CMCO) days after announcing the MCO’s extension, it caught federal agencies, state governments, local councils, business owners and citizens off guard.

The Labour Day weekend made it difficult to clarify things and for companies to prepare to resume operations. Thus, most states decided to either postpone the CMCO’s implementation or customise the standard operating procedure to allow a smoother “soft landing”.

This was met with a warning by the senior minister in charge of the economy, as well as the Covid-19 task force. The minister said state governments risk getting sued by industry players if they don’t comply with the federal directive allowing businesses to reopen.

It sparked interesting debates by academics, economic experts, health professionals and constitutional law practitioners on balancing public health and the economy, the rights and roles of the federal and state governments and local councils, and our preparedness for situations arising from eased restrictions.

The warning makes little sense. Surely businesses that have had to deal with the ramifications of being closed for almost 50 days are able to stand a few more while state governments sort out SOP and manpower issues?

While federal bodies like the Health Ministry are focused on containing the Covid-19 outbreak, the prevention part and preparing public premises to reopen are under the purview of local governments, which fall under state jurisdiction. Such premises include wet markets, which have proven to be infection hotspots.

Cases at the Selayang wholesale market have been linked to infections at Petaling Jaya markets. The Health Ministry needs local authorities’ help to enforce social distancing at these and other places that were not designed with a pandemic scenario in mind. Night markets and Ramadan bazaars, which have been banned under the MCO, also fall under local governments’ authority.

Police and the armed forces have been spread too thin ensuring public compliance with movement curbs and preventing crime in this challenging time, which sees the world struggling to regain its footing amid the worst crisis since World War Two. Add to that their peripheral tasks, which can’t simply be ignored because of the virus.

Perikatan Nasional ministers, who have had little time to familiarise themselves with their charges, should leverage the experience of “established” state governments like Selangor, Penang and Sarawak, which already have information networks and a collegial understanding in place. They also have solid dissemination channels, which the federal government should utilise to reach out to people in remote areas during crises like the one we’re in.

Additionally, local governments always keep an ear to the ground, and this gives them important insights into their areas’ unique needs and issues.

Now is not the time to play politics or think about apportioning credit. There is still much that can go wrong, and if coordination is not taken seriously, it will just end up in the blame game.

At this critical juncture, all parties – federal, state and local governments, professional bodies, trade unions and business associations – must be involved. Treading this uncharted territory is a learning process for everyone, but people don’t deserve to painfully learn later that mistakes could have been avoided only if those in charge had talked to one another. – May 6, 2020.

* Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on Earth, and that motivated people can do far more good than any leader with motive.

* 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.