Fighting the fake news virus

As the nation prepares to face the deadly novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), also known as the "Wuhan virus" as it originated from the city of Wuhan in China, Seniman president and erstwhile Umno member and supporter Zed Zaidi tweeted a photo which says “Breaking news: All countries have banned Chinese tourists except Malaysia”.

This is of course, false. As it stands, no country in the world has completely banned Chinese tourists from entering its borders. Except, possibly, North Korea. But North Korea does what it wants, without much regard to international treaties or even conventions.

In fact, the government can only impose a total travel ban if the World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified a particular virus as a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)". WHO has not declared the Wuhan virus as PHEIC.

The government has however suspended immigration facilities for Chinese visitors from Wuhan and the larger Hubei province, areas most affected by the virus.

According to Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad the Wuhan virus is under control in Malaysia. However, according to him, the more critical issue is the spread of viral fake news on the issue.

Valuable time and resources have been spent on debunking fake news and countering disinformation from the first suspected cases of the Wuhan virus in Malaysia. Time and resources which should be dedicated solely in dealing with the virus, had it not been for the abundance of false information out there.

It does not help that public figures, such as Zed Zaidi, has contributed to this state of affairs by tweeting fake news as well. At the time of writing, he has not deleted nor corrected the tweet in question, despite many angry netizens pointing it out to him.

Unfortunately, it does appear that there are those who are deliberately spreading falsehoods for their political purpose. They want to fuel anger towards the government, creating the perception that the government is incompetent, or is "friendly" to China by not imposing a total travel ban.

This is despite the fact that according to the Global Health Security Index survey, Malaysia ranks third in Asia in terms of overall readiness to face a disease outbreak.

Malaysia has had experience in dealing with outbreaks. Our Health Ministry has had to deal with Sars and Mers before this. In 1998, our country was hit by the nipah virus which had a 77.6 percent fatality rate. We got through that crisis and subsequent outbreaks stronger and more prepared.

Our preparedness in dealing with outbreaks is not because of whoever holds political power in Putrajaya. It is not because of BN or Pakatan Harapan. It is because of the men and women who are on the ground and in the frontlines, and those who advise the politicians based on available information.

Thankfully, Malaysians are fighting back. On Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp groups, Malaysians are debunking fake news and countering disinformation. Fake news, like the one tweeted by Zed Zaidi, are being called out by netizens.

But we must not be complacent. We must continue to support our heroes and heroines in the frontlines; the doctors, the immigration officers, the medical personnel, the cleaners, the airport staff and the rest by fighting this virus of fake news and disinformation.

It is the least we can do, as responsible Malaysians. 

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SYAHREDZAN JOHAN is a civil liberties lawyer and political secretary to Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang. - Mkini