Dr Rais Hussin

Nothing opens up a gaping chasm like a pandemic; be it the Black Death in Europe, Ebola in parts of Africa or HIV in the United States, health issues can widen the gaps between rich and poor and the poor and the penniless. These are structural divides shaped by the lack of five S's

These five S's are Sustainable access to a strong health system in the private and public sector, strong Surveillance of the well-being of a person and their family once they have been exposed to the pandemic, the Silent prejudice against pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers, (in)Superable attempts to stop oneself from being tested negative again and again and, finally, the Suspension of one's ability to rejoin the workforce or even society without being discriminated as a Covid-19 patient.

Malaysia has not been affected deeply by the SARS-CoV2 virus, as at over 9,000 cases, our frontliners have also managed to save some 9,048 lives.

Whether it is the will of God that the strain of the virus here has not mutated so viciously that it infects people at a speed beyond the capacity of our frontline workers or sheer compliance to social distancing and hand hygiene, Malaysia has been relatively safe compared to neighbours near or far that are not just struggling with a pandemic, but a social explosion due to the lack of the five S's outlined above.

This pandemic has triggered a social explosion across the world, silently or publicly.

In China, while the epidemic has been contained, voice of murmurs that Wuhan did not have to close down at all can still be heard and people are still dissatisfied - for want of a better word - with the response of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) even though polls show that close to 90.6% of respondents agree with the leadership of President Xi Jinping.

However, Xi, under the guidance of medical advisor Professor Dr Zhong Nanshan, has acknowledged that Covid-19 is no longer seasonal; instead of expecting it to "wither away" in the summer, as predicted by Prof Zhong, it is clearly a pandemic that is becoming endemic.

Even if China has handled the pandemic well within the country, there are millions of Chinese students who do not feel safe studying in the US or the United Kingdom.

In response, China understands their worries and has refrained from fanning the fire of their concerns by speaking negatively of the valiant efforts of other countries.

If they do - and the Chinese students are "spooked" - millions of them would opt to return to China, triggering a fear of more and more imported cases in China. The latter has not happened, but it can happen at a rapid rate and this would undermine the legitimacy of the top leadership in China.

Malaysia has been careful to calibrate the responses. Imported cases are now reported side by side with locally transmitted ones per the protocol of the Ministry of Health.

The Merdeka of Malaysia in 2020 must be marked by how mature we have handled SARS-CoV2 virus; by not allowing Malaysians to be divided or the foreign workers in our midst to be discriminated wholesale, as they too are the backbone upon which the Malaysian economy has to lean on.

By understanding that our economy contracted by 17.1% in 2Q2020, the perfect storm of the pandemic would have to be faced with more resilience as this is the worst that Malaysia has ever faced.

All the rhetoric against any races, religions and potentially royalty must cease. This government was formed on March 1 but it also understands the pandemic may last and last. To her credit, Tourism Minister Nancy Shukri has admitted honestly that international tourism of Malaysia may be affected until June 2021 in an interview with Nikkei Asia Review.

With more leaders and people willing to stand united to accept that this pandemic is now endemic, and Malaysia has not done too badly, the current administration would have the breathing room to make more clinical and sound decisions without being bogged down by partisan politics.

As an African saying goes,"when the wind changes, you change the sails." Regardless of how the big tech companies are doing well in the bourses across the world, Malaysia cannot afford to assume that the world will gain from a global V shaped recovery. Therefore, the least we can do is to not be vicious to one another just as we exercise due caution to prevent SARS-CoV 2 from enlarging all the chasms mentioned above.

United we stand, divided we fall has never been truer, both in and out of parliament especially in the wake of the troika of challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, global and domestic economic volatility, and political conundrums.

Happy Merdeka to fellow Malaysians!

Dr Rais Hussin is a supreme council member of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and chairman of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC).