DEPRESSION, as well as economic desperation and the relationship between the two, have become heated topics widely discussed on both online and offline media.
If you have been attentive towards current conversations being pushed, then you may well already be familiar with the 'raise the white flag' initiative spreading across the country to help those who desperately need food.
Contentions have also taken a heavy turn with the growing concern towards Malaysian’s collective emotional well-being with the unfortunate rise of suicide cases. It is an emerging public health issue no thanks to the present isolation coupled with the erratic fight to end the pandemic as the backdrop.
Just recently a Facebook user shared his financial woes and condition as he prepared himself to go into the current lockdown.
The post reads: “Reading the recent news on how the government wants to extend the MCO further just makes me sigh.
“On one hand, I know how difficult things are from my overworked doctor friends and our hospitals which are overcrowded. It was the recent wave of Covid 19 outbreaks that brought death to my friend's families.
“On the other hand, I feel the pain of the economic halt and the inability for many people to earn a decent income”
Although there was no request for monetary aid, user Ross Stephenson did provide the public with the harsh reality that many Malaysians can relate to and possibly are in the same predicament, albeit with the difference of household circumstances.
What is interesting about the sharing is it gave us a look into the contemplations and psyche of a citizen left at the end of the rope having put their trust in the present administration (or dare we say, lack of).
Whatever the sentiments that erupted from the post, it is hard to deny that the general population (emphasise on the ‘general’) across the board are struggling to make ends meet or at least put some sense into the present restrictions.
What is the human relations and responsibilities that we have with economics?
Sharing with The Vibes on the importance it holds over the country’s social development and emotional resilience, University of Malaya’s (UM) Datuk Dr Rajah Rasiah highlights: “Any attempt to serve the Malaysian society would require that the [economic] discipline addresses a balance between material progress, and its relationship with poverty and inequality, access to education, shelter, security, safety, health, and environmental harmony”.
“Otherwise, the negative externalities from economic progress will seriously undermine sustainable development.
“The United Nations recognises this when launching its 17 sustainable development goals in 2015 where consequently, economic policies of the country, at least on paper, emphasise this,” he said.
Rajah believes that despite it [economic discipline] is very much born out of the philosophy to study human behaviour and to serve human beings, including the environment they inhabit, “…to some extent, has evolved in an isolated and truncated manner from human development”. He added that researchers of said field address the objective if they are in favour of extending the quest of their domain pertinently.
The distinguished economics professor states that several of Malaysia's national policies throughout the changing government, since the days of Barisan Nasional (BN) to the current Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration, emphasise the matter in their blueprints, including in the launching of Large-Scale Solar projects to check global warming, and specific policies to assist the B40 households.
“However, there is always a problem between planned policy roadmaps and the evolving reality.
“The Economic Planning Unit of Malaysia and other related organs of the government must improve their management of these policies so that unidentified issues and new random developments, (such as the Covid-19 pandemic) can be absorbed into their plans through expert recalibration efforts,” he said.
Rajah further stressed that such initiatives must always emphasise the people first aspect, which is the true nature of development.
“Any rash efforts to bulldoze through strategies without careful review can produce unintended consequences. Apart from perhaps the need to review the delineation of policies by ethnic lines, which is opposed to the vision contained in the last national development blueprint – ie Shared Prosperity Vision – as it called for a needs-based policy to address poverty.
“As with all latecomers in economic development, like the 'cat looking at the king', we have learnt a lot from the countries ahead in the development trajectory, and hence, official policy in many areas look good. However, we need to seriously review the strategies we formulate over time to achieve them, he noted.
“The big problem we have is when it comes to implementation.”
The above mentioned has implications for our emotional well-being, “…and we use the concept of inclusive development in most of our blueprints today”.
“Unfortunately, like its promoters (United Nations), little of it happens. The concept – ideally – calls for the participation of all targeted groups in the understanding of the issue and the determination of the strategies to solve them.
“Both the UN and our experts in Malaysia most of the time only focus on issues that relate to the poor. Hence, we are dealing with low incomes, low wages, access to shelter, affordability of utilities etc, but do not engage the poor to address them.
“The town hall sessions used to validate their findings and conclusions are hardly attended by the real poor.
To what extent are we victims of the pandemic?
Rajah noted that while the government handled the pandemic well over the first MCO, “…which gave us 16th ranking among the countries in a UN report, what has happened since then is mind-boggling as we are now positioned at 51 among the 53 countries in the same report”.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has severely devastated the labour market.
“While large exporting factories are enjoying government support to continue their operations, which is perhaps the main reason why our exports have been doing well, the ‘petty’ and informal businesses including their workers are suffering because of restricted and total lockdowns.
“A focus on the masses as the core requirement of development policy would mean that our government should find alternative ways to support their operations,” he expressed.
“The first MCO was relatively OK, but more should have been dispensed to support the livelihood of those that are now left vulnerable today.
“The different versions of MCOs have severely drained them, and most are on the brink of complete disappearance.
“It may even explain the trend rise in suicide rates, with the last reported to have reached four suicides a day over the last few months in 2021,” noted Rajah.
“Instead of introducing EMCOs and MCOs, at this point of the Covid-19 period, the solution should focus on how SOPs can be improved to ensure that the supply-demand structures involving the ‘petty’ and informal businesses can be sustained while at the same time breaking the COVID19 spread cycle.
“Again, if we respect the need for inclusive development, we must engage them in our decision making,” he added.
Addressing the gaps that are still not properly addressed, the professor highlighted that while we should continue to prohibit close contact activities beyond households, we also need to ensure that the basics of living, which includes keeping alive operations that bring incomes to sustain the livelihood of the people, are not undermined.
“There will be a need to improve on the SOPs to make this possible without the virus spreading further, especially Cpvid-19 hotspots must be carefully regulated but without having to cut off their essential activities.
“This will help to consult some of the villagers and household heads on their strategies before implementing them,” said Rajah.
This follows with his agreed opinion of raising the vaccination rate and simplifying the procedures for its administration.
Recently there was a call to protest the government’s handling of the pandemic. However, there seems to be not much news of an actual protest on the streets on the supposed date.
When asked how far he thinks the country can keep its cool before the next socio-economic meltdown: “Activities of this kind typically only happen when the middle class braves itself to lead such protests”.
“The poor are largely unorganised and carry little or no political aspirations.
“Also, it takes a long time to mobilise support for such activities, especially when those on the brink (if) are scattered among the population, and I hope it does not come to that stage,” shared Rajah.
Digesting the cold hard facts of the country’s psychosocial welfare
PDRM has recorded a total of 1,099 suicides in Malaysia from January last year – shortly after Covid-19 hit the country – until May this year.
This constitutes nearly 77% of the total logged throughout 2019 (609 cases) and 74% seen in the whole of 2020 (631). In the first five months of 2021, Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Seri Abd Jalil Hassan in a statement said 468 suicides were recorded nationwide alone.
A quick check with Befrienders Kuala Lumpur on issues raised from their helplines reveal that just for last month (up to June 28), around 32% of callers from the total of 3434 calls indicated suicidal ideation/intention, with the breakdown of issues raised being psychological (36%), relationship (11%), family (10%), job (7%) and social (7%). – The Vibes, July 3, 2021
*More on the nuances of mental well-being and the domino effect that contributes to the statistics in Pt 2 of the article tomorrow
