Would you snitch on your neighbours during lockdown?

 

A curtain-twitching neighbour scowled when she noticed the house next door was having a party.

She contacted FMT, saying the revellers were defying coronavirus lockdown rules.

When told to alert police, she was reluctant to snitch on her neighbour.

Security at a condominium in upscale Mont Kiara, alerted to photographs of a party in a unit by a resident last Saturday, discovered the revelry happened two years ago.

It turned out the complainant, who saw the pictures at the condo on Facebook, was a score-settling busybody.

Is reporting on others during Covid-19 restrictions the right thing to do?

We grapple with the question every day – at the supermarket, mall, eatery and at the park.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah yesterday urged the public to report lockdown breakers to police.

He was responding to a question from the media on the gathering by political leaders at the home of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in Bukit Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday.

Police were outside the home where pressmen had also assembled, so we shall leave it to law enforcement to deal with the violators.

While Noor Hisham means well, he has to provide clarity to some troubling questions:

• Is it a civic duty or an act of spying on people?
• What determines the difference between ethical and unethical reporting?
• How effective is a policy that encourages people to turn on one another?
• Isn’t the overarching message in these times to promote solidarity?
• Isn’t there the risk that people will project blame when they don’t know the full story?
• Will it turn us into a nation of score-settling busybodies?
• Are there enough police personnel to investigate such complaints and separate the trivial from the serious?
• What impact would snitching have on vulnerable and marginalised citizens?

People should be encouraged to raise matters that concern public safety with their friends and neighbours.

But this should be in the context of keeping distance and wearing masks.

It is however reasonable to alert the authorities if there is a serious threat to public health.

While sneak culture must be discouraged, many people will have no qualms to rat politicians out and get them in trouble, given the cases of bias between the elite and the ordinary Malaysian.

Severe disrespect for voters

First, he bullied Sabah village student Veveonah Mosibin – now, the grumpy deputy communications and multimedia minister has launched a destructive attack on the voters.

By blaming GE14 voters for the current political instability, BN’s Padang Besar MP Zahidi Zainul Abidin has shown contempt for electorates.

By saying politicians should not be blamed for the political upheaval, he has added another howler to the litany of classic goofs by his elite chums.

Zahidi and the other petulant lot, seemingly convinced of their ‘goodness’ and ‘rightness’, must be pushed to the distant margins of society.

While wise societies discourage political spite and hatred, the behaviour of this group of lawmakers in relation to the political and Covid-19 crises has been a masterpiece of hypocrisy and crudity.

It seems Zahidi cannot tolerate those who voted against his party in GE14.

He should quit as should any employee unhappy with the employer.

Salaried politicians who do not think before they speak do not deserve our respect.

They work for us. They should fear us. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.