The Malaysian Insight

SOCIAL media users have expressed anger and disappointment with news that the government was planning to declare an emergency, in the effort to battle the Covid-19 pandemic.

They believed that Malaysia was not in grave danger from the pandemic, but that the move was actually politically driven.

“This darurat has nothing to do with C19, it is purely political,” @_Kheri_ posted.

Social media users have also called this a cowardly and incompetent move for current authorities to stay in power.

“Darurat won’t change the fact that PN (Perikatan Nasional) government’s Covid-19 SOP is a mess and applies differently between ‘kayangan’ and ‘Bumi’. It is another desperate move to stay in power and silence those who demand for accountability. NO to Darurat. #MuhyiddinOut,” @Samantha_chong said.

“Incompetent ministers. There are plenty of ways to curb or eradicate this problem yet they still chose the most extreme one. Remember guys, the cause of the rising covid-19 cases nationwide is caused by our politicians. Vote them out! #MuhyiddinOut,” @jaydenmateen said. 

“If it comes down to Darurat, my Twitter account will go full political,” @TheAleem shared.

Many others reflected what “emergency” means and will bring forth, as well as the coming status of Malaysia.

“We’re in a public health crisis, not a state of #emergency. A public health crisis, requires a public health response. A state of emergency gives the government wide-sweeping powers, threatens checks and balances, endangers our human rights. Who does this #darurat protect?” Amnesty International Malaysia said.  

“How it started: Wawasan 2020. How it ended: Darurat 2020,” @songmaino_ tweeted.  

“I want to say this before Emergency comes in – it will be very difficult for the media to report openly on Covid. CodeBlue has tried our best to shed light and push for transparency on the Covid crisis, especially in Sabah. But an emergency will strip away all civil liberties,” @boosulyn, the editor-in-chief of CodeBlue, a health reporting platform. 

Darurat (emergency) is now trending in Malaysia with 76,600 tweets and counting. The hashtag #MuhyiddinOut is also trending again, after its top appearance two weeks ago.

Aside from them, the words on the queue are Abah, YDPA and Muda.

Earlier today, sources said the cabinet decided to use emergency powers to combat Covid-19’s rapid rise in the past weeks, amid political uncertainty ahead of the budget session. – October 23, 2020.