LETTER | We were made our own worst enemy

Yes, you read that right. Malaysians’ misbehaviour during the Restricted Movement Order (RMO) can’t completely fall on the rakyat.

Here’s why:

Let’s start with panic buying. Though the hoarder’s behaviour was appalling, we must not turn a blind eye to the events that contributed to the entire narrative.

Our favourite Malaysian reality show “Keeping up with the PNs” took a 4 + 1 hour commercial break right after dropping an arguably better cliff hanger than Negan in Season 6 of The Walking Dead.

You cannot say things like “wait for the big news tonight” during a virus outbreak and expect people to sit still. 

It was perhaps the worst thing you could say to Malaysians who are already on the verge of panic.

Naturally, speculation fed into the paranoia and people started panic buying everywhere.

Though the rakyat’s hoarding behaviour was appalling, our leaders should bear some form of responsibility too. How would you feel if a cliff hanger film took a lengthy commercial break before showing what happens next?

A much better alternative would have been to give a shorter notice period to ensure citizens remained calm without too much time to speculate.

For the RMO announcement, the Prime Minister highlighted the six main points which may be sufficient for the general public. However, little was done in terms of detailing the nitty-gritty of the order. 

Certain daily wage earners like hawkers had to wait until 12pm the next day to gain more info on running their businesses. 

All hands should’ve been on deck to provide clarification that night itself to avoid chaos from confusion.

Now, let’s talk panic travelling - particularly for tertiary students. The RMO was announced to minimise human contact and contain the virus as much as possible. 

But it was learnt that several higher learning institutions instructed students to vacate the residential colleges and return home.

Then came the plot twist, the IGP announced that people would require a special permit to perform interstate travels. 

So now, you have two crowds that could potentially spread the virus. One at bus/train stations and another at police stations. Both are the results of poor management.

Then, plot twist-ception occurred. Both requirements were pulled after one day.

If one didn’t know better, it would appear as if all relevant departments were working in silos. This led to many knee-jerk reactions when everyone tried to balance each other out.

Poor communication among related bodies can only spell doom because the people will always receive the short end of the stick, second only to our frontliners who probably weren’t even invited to pick a stick.

One of the core functions of the National Security Council (NSC) is crisis and disaster management.

They should have taken the lead in managing the RMO upon announcement with quick follow-ups on what to expect.

Coordination with the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and Ministry of Education should’ve been done prior to and not after the RMO declaration to ensure smooth and collaborative executions.

Some may dispute that this is the first time Malaysia faced such a pandemic and that everyone is still learning and improving. 

To you I say, in a predicament like this, there’s no room for error. Every little mistake we make will worsen the situation by leaps and bounds.

Ultimately, the RMO was done in good faith but executed poorly.

The fact that statements were being released and retracted by different governing bodies at different times shows that the NSC didn’t account for all possible outcomes.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.