Restricted Movement Order in Malaysia
and how is the Government responding to it
It’s day 5 here in Malaysia under Restricted Movement Order (RMO) since March 18. The directions for the order when it was announced two days before weren’t quite clear but it basically means other than essential services, all services must be put into hiatus with our borders closed. While Federal Government is reviewing the directions for the Order on daily basis, the state and local authorities also add up to the directives like limiting the hours for essential stores, for better or worse.
But it is interesting to see the public relations and corporate communication strategies employed by the government during this critical period. When the government i.e. the political figures take their sweet time in deciding the direction of the nation, the country bashed — and interestingly, the government listen.
The Order was announced by Prime Minister himself late at 11 p.m. Monday (16/3) night after huge cluster of people infected from a religious gathering in mid March was announced on Saturday. Tuesday was a panick-mode day for most Malaysians, as people scurrying over groceries stores to pick up their essentials in anticipation of the RMO. National Security Council took over — but who presides over it is a lingering question marks for many Malaysians.
Few days later, the government machineries seems to improve. Those who are considered liability now has less (or none) appearance in the media. Now they put face(s) to National Security Council — either the Prime Minister, or one of his Senior Ministers. They all don appropriate attire — no suits, rolled-up sleeves and articulate speech (clarity, otherwise is something to improve).
Europe provides extreme case to Malaysia. While Italy is struggling to contain and is still in dire, horrible circumstances, it should serve not just as a reminder but also a lesson learned. Days after Italy announced their lockdown swarm of its urban citizens flocking to their hometown. Unfortunately, that seemingly normal reaction caused a massive outbreak, all over the country, exposing the virus to ageing population in the country side, leading to what Italy is now.
Malaysia experienced the same reaction one day before the RMO, pushing the Police to announce any state-crossing movement must be applied trough police stations. Malaysians, who are well-known for their determination to be back (in their parent’s) home especially during holiday breaks (with additional 5–6 hours on the road) of course brave their way to police stations to apply. Students, unclear of the direction whether they are allowed to stay on campus, also swarmed the terminals to be back home. This is alerting, if this was allowed to continue the 14-days restriction would bear fruitless. In fact after 14-day incubation period of the virus, more people will be sick.
On the first day of the RMO, the Prime Minister himself came out, pleading in a plain, simple language to stay at home. It received great response from the public as “social distancing” was too posh a term for most Malaysians to understand. Flatten the curve discussion dominated social media and everyone seems to have a grasp on it.
Reaching to wider audience is also a problem especially when scientific discussion is not a normalcy in this country. While you might think that maybe those from the lower income, lower education are hard to get through, those from higher income, higher education too are too smart to be taught when they maintain their right to solitary recreational activities outside of their home.
While in halt, Government is pushed to introduce economic stimulus (and they promised to announce new plan every week) especially to day earners and the vulnerables. Today is considered a new week and we are looking forward to see what Government is coming up. The pressure is on, especially when UK announced to back its citizens’s salaries affected by this epidemic up to 80%.
Public communication is truly an essence during this period. The government seems to be learning as it goes. Does it effective in combating Covid-19? Time will tell but as the data goes, Malaysia seems to be in plateau at peak, with unfortunate and inevitable deaths claims its toll to almost eleven cases so far.
We pray for the best.
Update #1 23 March 2020
Prime Minister announced additional stimulus packaged in relation to those affected by Covid-19. Upsettingly, the measures weren’t as big as it supposed to be. He claimed it is only a package from what will be announced on March 30 (again, quite late considering March 31 is the last day of this first (hopefully, final) RMO.
Update #2 24 March 2020
Director General of Health announced a fair reduction on the Covid-19 cases. 106 of new cases compared to yesterday’s 212 new cases. What a magnificent guy he is, the perk of being a specialist. He’s truly the one person people look up to in giving out information. Scientific and evidence-based, composed and knowledgeable in answering Q&A.
