Lest we forget

In early May, Malaysia provisionally lifted the movement control order (MCO) to begin the conditional MCO, allowing certain businesses to open in order to jump-start a stalled economy. It allowed certain businesses to open as long as they adhered to strict health guidelines.

This news garnered a mixed reaction. For SMEs and micro-businesses, the potential health cost and the space needed to accommodate social distancing were seen as insurmountable obstacles, as they observe their income plummeting on a daily basis.

We are now in the recovery MCO and many businesses have opted to carry on working from home till the end of the year as there is a real fear of a second wave. Some have opted to split the teams up and rotate their office time. All this to ensure that should anything happen to one team, the other can still carry on. Retailers in malls are still not 100 percent as employers grapple with health and safety SOPs coupled with the fear experienced by their employees. Those who live with elderly parents are now worried that the risk of infection will increase.

This, juxtaposed with those who are certain everything will be fine and life as we know it is back. The new normal which renews itself every time an alphabet is added to the MCO has forced many to navigate on shifting sands.

Malaysians have witnessed the good, the bad and the ugly from across the country as our leaders grapple with this situation. Observing the health director-general to the outpouring of goodwill from community leaders, there is much to celebrate.

But we have also witnessed an all too familiar slide in transparency with regards to the distribution of aid and the funds given out by the new (old) government. During the MCO, the government in a misguided attempt to reduce the risk of infection banned all civil society from distributing food to the poor and underprivileged. This exacerbated the hunger crisis as many who depended on daily aid were suddenly cut off. To make matters worse, the food aid promised by the government was found to be in short supply.

Several public service announcements by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry advising women to be kinder and more ladylike to their husbands became social media fodder. The resulting satire ignored a sinister issue - that of the rise in domestic violence. These examples clearly demonstrate how ministries that are helmed by inexperienced politicians often do a disservice to the people they have been sworn to serve.

From the MCO to the conditional MCO to the recovery MCO, what has really changed aside from the availability of ventilators and hospital beds?

Racism is still rampant. Migrants will go back to their cramp and often squalid homes and people are banding together in social groups sans distancing. To paraphrase The Daily Show host Trevor Noah - it’s like everyone is told all is well but no one told Covid-19 who is roaming around doing its thing.

In our attempts to kick start the economy, all can now walk around freely ignoring the fact that there is still no immediate cure or a vaccine, and infection will immediately cause the whole neighbourhood to be under the emergency MCO, forcing everyone under a barb wire lockdown with no notice given.

As we move out of this cocoon with our complacency destroyed, let’s not focus on materiality when building back some semblance of normalcy. There is a pressing need to fight for a paradigm shift - not a new normal where everyone is living in fear and money and race politics still trump, but one that will advance this nation in its service towards all that reside in this land - human, floral and fauna.

We need to understand that everything is connected and how one act of carelessness can affect a whole community and the subsequent communities that are linked to them. The domino effect has been well document as per the super (second wave) spreader at the South Korean nightclub.

Now, more than ever, we need to get out of our 'Me' and 'Mine' mindset, to be mindful how our actions impact others (exactly what the environmentalists have been telling us for decades!). We also need to speak up, roll up our sleeves to increase the bottom-up movement where citizens are informed and educated on the role they can play to create better living environments for their fellow citizens and residents (and yes, that includes migrants as well).

Communities need to band together for good. There is so much to get angry about especially in the last week, and this is exacerbated by comments and posts that are stirring up fear and hate. Consumers are now taking to social media to shame and report retailers who do not adhere to SOPs.

We are now living in an era where 'My' views matter and consequences be damned. It does not help when it is picked up by the media whipping up more division and vitriol - the act of defending someone else’s human rights has also become an act of shaming and humiliation. Everyone is struggling, wounded and raw. Every day, more salt is applied with a 24/7 coverage of death, violence, and injustice streaming on your first, second and third screens all in their technicolour glory broken down in minutiae, analysed to death every five minutes.

We have more than enough to fuel our fear, feed our paranoia and ignite our hate several lifetimes over. If we are not being careful, there is a real chance we may end up in an Orwellian 1984.

Ninety days on, psychiatrists are now talking about caution fatigue where people are starting to get relaxed about health and safety procedures, but what about fear fatigue? It has been said that chronic and prolonged fear weakens our immune system, cause cardiovascular damage, lead to accelerated ageing, (cause depression) and even premature death.  

So how do we start to pivot away from fear and hate, where do we start?

For me, one of the best antidotes was the ability to organise food aid for multiple communities under the Rotary umbrella. So start small, start with the smallest problem that you face within your family, community or neighbourhood. If you come across a family that is going hungry or has lost their jobs, rally your friends to buy them food or connect them with prospects. If you are affected, ask for help.

Start with compassion and kindness to others and yourself. Find things to celebrate. If I may use a (Marie) Kondoism, find things that Spark Joy and get rid of anything that doesn’t. Perhaps, stop checking the news, your WhatsApp or tweets every 10 minutes. It’s okay for people to share doom and gloom but you have the power to hit the delete button. Get to know your neighbours, and see how you can collectively solve neighbourhood issues.

When you feel you are ready, initiate a conversation with your local state representative or MP. Don’t wait for town halls, which often end up turning into a marathon of individual complaints and detract from the bigger picture and the greater good. Start engaging with those in power, let her or him know your challenges and then offer to collectively overcome them. 

It’s time to change the collective story from 'Me', 'Mine' and 'Nimby' (Not In My Backyard) to 'Ours'. Until we are able to do that, there will be no new normal, only old normal with masks on. 

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LEE JIA PING heads Tempatico, a consultancy that 'uses urban strategy, conservation and placemaking to build communities'. - Mkini