🇲🇾 Stay at home, says Malaysia

Hello friends!

I wanted to get into Singapore more, but there’s so much to explore there that doing it from an airport terminal can’t do it justice. Singapore is rightfully being acclaimed by the rest of the world for its response, but I want to take a look a bit deeper than that. So give me a few more days and we’ll do it from Canberra! The Singapore of Australia! 

I do first though want to flag that Singapore’s increases in cases are often imported, which to me says an increase in affluent nationals from neighbouring countries. Today Singapore reported its first two deaths, one of which is an Indonesian national. As this stressor deepens, I would be very interested to see if there’s any change in rhetoric. 

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Malaysian readers, get in touch! Tell us what it’s like, what are your friends and family saying? How do you think the government response has been?

Stay safe everyone! You’ll be hearing from me a lot in the coming weeks! 

Erin Cook

Some tip on social distancing, c/o Malaysian PM Muhyiddin Yassin

As of Friday, Malaysia has 1,030 confirmed cases which is the highest infection rate in Southeast Asia. Official figures report three people have died. The third death is linked to a now-infamous mass event at Kuala Lumpur’s Sri Petaling Mosque at the end of last month.

As I was compiling this a fourth death has been announced, also linked to the event. 

We touched on this case briefly at the start of the week, but a new Reuters report has illuminated the whole thing. The February 27 to March 1 event, hosted by the Tablighi Jama’at missionary movement, saw 16,000 attendees including 1,500 from abroad take part. Earlier in the week, Minister of Health Adham Baba said of the then confirm 673 cases just shy of two-thirds have been linked to the event. Other countries in the region have also linked some of their cases. 

“I was very surprised actually that it went ahead. But in Malaysia God is very important. The belief is strong,” said Surachet Wae-asae, a former Thai lawmaker who attended the event but has since tested negative. 

This read from the South China Morning Post on a coronavirus patient who also attended is interesting. “Hundreds of people got tested at the mosque, including me. I tested positive so now I am in the hospital. My family have no symptoms and are awaiting their test results,” Khairi Akbar says. He has been involved with Tablighi Jama’at for several years and says the event had all necessary permits and maintains that loads of other gatherings across the country for various reasons happened at the same time.

Who said it? A Facebook friend you went to school with who got really into essential oils, or Malaysian Health Minister Adham Baba?

"Do not drink water that is not boiled. Drink a glass of water that is warm because the virus does not like warm things. Make sure (the water) is not too hot.

"The virus will go down (the oesophagus) and when it reaches the stomach which has acids, the virus dies. That's how we eliminate the virus.

"What's important is that we have to kill the virus in our throats before it reaches our lungs.

"This virus, it likes the lower part of the lungs. It likes to stay there. That's why it is said that this virus loves human beings," he said.

It is, obviously, bullshit.

Malaysia levelled up its response markedly Thursday with the announcement of a Movement Control Order. The Order will last until at least the end of the month and focuses primarily on restricting travel, mass gatherings and restricting movement into the country. This Straits Times piece has a good outline of what it means if you’d like to read further about specifics. 

The King, who has had an unusually busy tenure, called on all Malaysians to do their part. “I also urge you to cancel your plans to balik kampung (return to hometowns). To parents of brides and grooms, I advise you to postpone wedding receptions until conditions improve,” he said during a televised address Friday. He also called for everyone to ensure they’re washing their hands frequently and adhering to the MCO. 

The ‘head of the family’ is the only one in a household who can venture out for necessities, says Minister of Works Fadillah Yusof. Expect to hear more about this specific policy, given it’s essentially reinforcing the most rigid of gender roles in the family. 

The deployment of the military to support enforcement of the order has sparked some accusations of overreach, but one former deputy defence minister says it’s all hands on deck.  Liew Chin Tong, who lost his post in the mess last month, says: “We must mobilise all resources at our disposal and be prepared to step up, scale-up and win this war against Covid-19.”

This creates a particular problem when combined with Singapore’s restrictions. With so much movement between the two countries exemptions and workarounds have been baked into both countries’ policies.

Talks between high-level lawmakers from both sides of the Causeway have resulted in an arrangement allowing Malaysians with work permits to continue working in Singapore, as long as they have appropriate health and accommodation arrangements. This will mean far less shuffle over the border of workers, but there are also arrangements in place to maintain “the bilateral transport of commercial goods across our land checkpoints.” 

Still, there are complications here. Malaysian workers in the city that don’t have accommodation sorted out by their employers have been left sleeping rough. A group of volunteers have come together to hand out necessities after a plan to find hostel housing was scuttled over ‘red tape.’ 

And is this not the most Singaporean quote of all time, from organiser Delane Lim: “As I walk down the streets and parks, I shared with my buddy that we should feel blessed and fortunate that our city is safe and clean. Not many homeless Singaporeans… Those we met explained why they decided to stay out from their own place. Spending time listening to them makes me realise how fortunate I am and my identity as a Singaporean,”