The silver lining in the Covid-19 crisis for Malaysia

The Covid-19 pandemic hit Malaysia at a time when the country was in the midst of a political upheaval, with the government of the day changing after several unexpected political moves were made. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was appointed the new Prime Minister on Feb 29 and sworn in a day later.

As Prime Minister, Muhyiddin’s first task was to fight the spread of Covid-19 in the country. On March 16, he announced the imposition of a movement control order (MCO), to begin on March 18, that stopped all but essential services – hospitals, grocery stores, food services, security, etc – from operating, banned interstate and foreign travel, and kept people at home. Since then, there have been various adjustments to the MCO in response to the number of Covid-19 cases, and Malaysia is now in a more relaxed recovery MCO period with most businesses open.