Imagine if
you couldn’t leave the house for the foreseeable future. What little work you
were able to do before is no longer available as an option. Your daily
sustenance is in total reliance of help by charitable parties, which may end at
any given moment.
Your spouse
was hit by a stroke in the third week of the MCO, and now needs expert
treatment by healthcare professionals thrice a week. You have to take care of
your bedridden spouse, which is actually way beyond your physical and financial
means. You have no family nor friends you can rely on.
Imagine if
you are a single, daily waged hotel kitchen cleaner who takes care of your
elderly mother whose health recently deteriorated. She became wheelchair bound
and incontinent during MCO in your zinc roofed house. You have no savings to
speak of.
You are not
able to work during the MCO, neither do you see the prospects of work because
your employer's company has just folded. Your income which barely met your
needs before MCO when you had work, gives a picture of the future that is
unthinkable.
Imagine if
you are a 70 year old mother to a mentally disabled son in his forties. You
survived by collecting and sorting waste and selling cardboard and tins, or
whatever you may find for one meal a day. Another meal comes from a charitable
organisation who delivers a meal 5 days a week.
Your
landlord, who allows you to stay rent free at their termite ridden part of
their house is unable to fix the damage sustained during the freak storm that
occurred during the MCO. The gaping hole over your bedroom ceiling is only
going to get worse. Meanwhile, you can't even go out to earn the piecemeal
income you had before.
To these
Malaysians, a return to normalcy, will be a return to what got them into the
their now irreversible torture in the first place. As one lady whose plight is
one of those described above said, "MCO or not makes no difference, I will
just let the days pass by; my life will be much easier if it didn't
continue." 解唔解封无分别。过得一日就一日，唔使过就最简单。
The pandemic
as a mirror of society's ills
Whenever the
question of ‘when will we return to any degree of normalcy’ arises, I shudder
at the thought that some of us are still of the presumption that we still have
that as an option.
Let's be
clear; what is happening right now, is nothing short of an imposed revolution
by nature itself. We are now moving into a new economic world order; form and
substance of which no one is able to model or predict. When the economy
changes, society changes; and vice versa.
The social,
economic and even mental health impact on people all over the world resulted by
the measures taken to fight COVID19 is nothing short of devastating. Literally
countless jobs and livelihoods have been, and will be lost with little to no
prospects of restoration. Consequently, many are on the brink of meltdown in
every sense of the word.
The virus
may affect the physical health of only those infected, but the pandemic will
affect the social, economic, and mental health of every single soul of our
world. The most vulnerable will be hit the hardest.
The
consensus on COVID19's pathological effects is, the more underlying conditions
one has to start with if infected, the more likely complication leading to
fatality will occur. The social and economic effect brought on by the pandemic
will be the same. Meaning, the poorer you were to start with before COVID19,
the greater your suffering will be during and after the MCO.
All that
macro impact, is already the mainstream discourse among the social and
political elites. However, whilst we can speak of digitalisation, fast tracking
the transition towards a post 4th industrial revolution economy, there is a
significant segment of society who are facing existential threats. These are
people--fellow Malaysians- what live in the borders of our society away from
plain sight and they need help more so than ever before.
The cracks,
strains and stresses of our civilisation that have long been swept under the
carpet, or drowned out by aspirational narratives of success have come to the
fore. Only now, the plight of the same victims are exacerbated by many folds
over by the collateral damage of the pandemic.
The
diagnosis
It is easy
to blame the system, but now is a better time than ever before to dismantle at
the very least the rotten parts of the system and replace it with what is
needed, fitting and humane.
Governments
and politicians have a huge role to play and the power and resources to affect
change. But that power and resources is seemingly used to preserve the
unsustainable ways and systems, to return to normalcy as we knew it.
The voices
of the vast majority of our society who are struggling and will continue to
struggle harder, are as always drowned out by the privileged and lucky minority
who have the capacity to move on under the previous norms.
In my
constituency Pasir Pinji during this MCO, my office with a group of
inspirational volunteers have shown me that the best of human nature and
society is still intact if there is a right mix of leadership and volunteers.
The spirit of solidarity in helping those most in need regardless of
nationality, race, religion, politics, really have been the reason for me to
remain hopeful despite all I've written and seen.
Apart from a
relatively insignificant financial aid announced at the start of the MCO, which
depleted within two weeks; there has been no government help, be it food
rations, facemask, sanitiser, or freshly cooked meals. The welfare department
has been lumbered with work that is outside of their remit, and some of their
essential services like homeless resettlement have had to be temporarily put on
hold.
Nonetheless,
we have managed to deliver basic kitchen items, fresh vegetables, facemasks,
and even deliver disaster relief, recovery, repairs and rebuilding after a
freak storm with minimal government involvement. There were of course some
civil service personnel who did help with expediting certain matters, and we
thank them immensely.
But the
entire aid and relief delivery system, at least here in Pasir Pinji and
surrounding area was entirely led, driven by NGO, CSO, the DAP, my office, not
to mention funded 85 percent by non government sources.
During these
turbulent times of extreme uncertainties, and a government that is posturing to
return to normalcy despite a significant part of society's need for a new
order; we need to take a different approach.
The pressure
to abandon this quest of returning to the previous normalcy unchanged and
unimproved must and will be exerted upon the government. But I am more
confident than ever, whilst we work for a new and different post COVID19 world
to materialise; individuals, NGOs, civil societies and human nature will
triumph in ushering in a next norm.
The
prognosis
What is that
next norm some may ask. That's the exciting part, we can mould it together as a
people. For me, it should be one that those whose plight I have described
above, have an alternative that they can look towards and forward to.
Government
needs to rethink and revamp the entire thinking behind our Nation’s welfare
policy. We have phenomenally fantastic people who work in our public welfare
services from the Ministry level through to the district operations; it’s time
that they are given the right amount credit, funding, support, human resources
and most importantly policies to really deliver what our society and our
citizens need. The next norm, needs to be one where help, aid and relief seek
out the needy, rather than the needy having to seek high and low for help at a
time of need and emergency.
Poverty is
caused by inequality of access to opportunities, resources and services; and
exacerbated by exploitation of the poorer by the richer. When the virus is
denied the conditions that aid transmissibility and access to a host, it will
die out. Similarly, when inequality of access to decent healthcare, quality
education, dignified and affordable housing are minimised; and exploitation of
the marginalised by those with power and money, poverty will be suffocated to
the point of eradication. Learning from the world’s efforts in breaking the
chain of infection for COVID19, the next norm must have conditions that break
the shackles of poverty and marginalisation for the most vulnerable segment of
society.
Finally, and
most important ingredient of the next norm must be the spirit of solidarity,
compassion and neighbourhood. During this MCO, the single most humbling
observation I made was how neighbours redefined their role among themselves at
a time of need.
How four
neighbouring households took turns in providing a second meal to the elderly
lady who was thrusted with the new responsibility of caring for her
bedbound,incontinent, bed sore ridden and totally paralysed husband. How more
comfortable households volunteered to send ready packed meals to the lesser
abled and more vulnerable neighbours on their street daily. How well-to-do
communities proactively self organised to engage caterers, and fresh produce
suppliers to ensure cooked meals are delivered to the homeless and downtrodden.
These are
characteristics that must be preserved and be culturalised in the next norm.
And this, no policy or government can compel. It has to come from the
individual. It can and should be from every single one of us.
Howard Lee
National DAPSY Chief
ADUN Pasir Pinji
