DOUBLE-standards by a country’s leaders when observing rules to curb the Covid-19 pandemic will cause the loss of public support, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today at a hybrid meeting of the Asian Leadership Conference 2021.

“Double standards must be avoided at all costs as these rules and procedures demand a lot from the populace, and if they were made to feel that these are only applicable to them and not to those in power or the elites, efforts to impose these rules and regulations would be met with resistance if not outright protests.

“Indeed, during a crisis, you cannot have one set of rules for one half of society and another for the other half,” the former prime minister said, adding that there must be leadership by example.

“If, from the word go, the leadership is unable to convince the populace that observation of the rules, regulations and SOPs are crucial in mitigating the crisis, then whatever subsequent strategies and steps introduced and taken, will not be smooth sailing if not outright failures,” he said at the conference on leadership values during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Mahathir said although he was talking about a domestic scenario, the same values applied to global leadership in overcoming the pandemic.

In Malaysia, people are expressing anger using social media over breaches of standard operating procedure by ruling party politicians, the latest being deputy Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohd Rashid Hasnon and Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, who were seen in photos and video clips attending a durian party with other people.

Last week, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mustapa Mohamed was also seen in photos eating at a cafe in his constituency in Jeli, Kelantan. He is being investigated by the police.

Dr Mahathir, in his speech today, named other challenges for all leaders in handling the pandemic, namely, balancing the issue of individual rights against collective welfare, such as efforts to vaccinate as many citizens as possible amid opposition by anti-vaxxers.

He also said the pandemic was a time for solidarity and leaders of richer, more powerful nations, should be assisting weaker and poorer nations.

Without naming countries but clearly alluding to the regional tension brought by the United States-China power rivalry, Dr Mahathir said if half the world remains sick, there is no guarantee that it would not drag the other half into another prolonged devastation.

“Surely it is an opportune time for the powerful nations to step up and put a stop on military aggressions committed by belligerent nations on neighbours and such.

“These nations should be reminded that the virus doesn’t distinguish between the aggressors and the victims.”

“It is not the time of one-upmanship, the show of military prowess or any other doctrinal superiority.

“It is a time when global leadership is defined and determined based on the abilities to help lift up other unfortunate nations out of the doldrums, poverty and misfortunes and get them back on their feet.”

The pandemic, he added, presents the opportunity for rich nations to reset long-standing practices, taboos, biases and prejudices against weaker countries. – June 30, 2021.