Two men bring food to their families and friends inside the cordoned off area of Pusat Bandar Utara, Kuala Lumpur, April 23, 2020. Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain

Photo Essay Top News

WHO CARES? COVID-19 DIVIDES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA (Malaysia)

By Prof. Dr. Rosalia Sciortino / November 1, 2023
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In Malaysia, the twin crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s extreme economic downturn coincided with a national political crisis associated with the collapse of the short-lived Mahathir-Anwar led Pakatan Harapan in late February 2020, followed by the Muhyiddin Yassin-government

Despite this political turmoil, the pandemic was initially curbed due to Malaysia’s highly-subsidized state health system, its lockdown policy, and its largely compliant population. However, its economic outlook remained bleak. Moreover, the premature relaxation of precautionary measures during the Sabah state election campaign in mid-September led to a new surge of infections and a second national lockdown. After a period of recovery, a third lock-down was imposed due to several community outbreaks following the fasting month and the celebration of Idulfitri in May 2021. This time, the spreading of COVID-19 persisted. 

The prolonged lockdown pushed even more people deeper into poverty and protests erupted over the onerous and seemingly ineffective restrictions.  In late June 2021, a white flag campaign emerged that called for people to raise a white flag in front of their houses if they were in need of aid. This was followed by a black-cladded movement which contested the authorities’ failure to save people’s lives and livelihoods. Government relief packages were far from adequate, and despite being called the “People’s Caring Aid”, much of this assistance was actually financed by the recipients themselves via prolonged loan terms from the State and the premature withdrawal of retirement funds.

Non-state actors became involved in providing support and distributing aid for the many excluded groups, especially informal sector and low-wage workers, with human rights activists furnishing indispensable support to improve the abusive conditions forced upon refugees and migrants who were restricted to their living quarters irrespective of their infection status.

A nearly empty refrigerator belonging to a couple of informal workers who lost their sources of income at Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur, December 12, 2021.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain
A cordoned off area along Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Masjid India placed under total lockdown between April 14-28, 2020 due to a spike in the number of reported COVID-19 infections, Kuala Lumpur.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain
A woman searches for food from the garbage disposal area of a wet market in Pudu after she lost her job and no longer had income due to the pandemic and its accompanying containment measures, May 5, 2020.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain
A man from the neighborhood, feeds silver leaf monkeys at the tourist spot of Bukit Melawati in Kuala Selangor, who were without food due to the absence of visitors, April 24, 2020.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain
Seeking a job amidst rising unemployment: Selayang wholesale market, Kuala Lumpur, May 10, 2020.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain
A man preparing food packs at a food bank before distributing them to those in need at Perhentian Island in Terengganu, June 25, 2021.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain
Sabah State Election voters line up to cast their votes at Pulau Gaya on 26 September 2020, an event now recognized as having ‘seeded’ the new COVID-19 wave that triggered the third blanket lockdown.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain
A group of black-cladded protesters hold a prop in front of a banner with text stating “Kita mati dalam derhaka #keluar dan lawan” (We die in hell #come out and fight) during a protest at Dataran Merdeka, Kuala Lumpur, July 31, 2021.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain
A protester holds a poster with “8859 deaths” and “the government is the murderer” written on it during the Black Flag protest, Kuala Lumpur, July 31, 2021.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain
Undocumented migrants and refugees rounded up by the police at Selayang Wholesale Market, Selangor on May 11, 2020 on the last day of a 14-day movement restriction order. Over 1,300 migrants, most of whom were Rohingya refugees, were arrested in the raid.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain
A white shirt is used as a white flag, hung in front of a house in Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur, July 5, 2021. The #benderaputih – or white flag – campaign was initiated to help people signal their distress and obtain aid during the pandemic.
Photo: ©Hasnoor Hussain

This photo essay is part of the photo exhibition “Who Cares? COVID-19 Divides in Southeast Asia”, organized by SEA-Junction and the Institute for Population and Social Research (IPSR) of Mahidol University, in partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT), Silkworm, Khon Thai 4.0 and Bangkok Tribune. (The exhibition is on display from 17 October to 12 November 2023| Curved Wall, 3rd Floor, BACC). For more details, check out at http://seajunction.org/event/photo-exhibition-who-cares-covid-19-divides-in-southeast-asia and https://bkktribune.com/photo-exhibition-who-cares-covid-19-divides-in-southeast-asia/

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