BEWARE OF SHARP EDGE TO TERMS USED IN CRISIS
Different versions of the truth can emerge and we cannot let words obscure the truth
FROM every crisis new words and terms arise which take hold, determine thought and behaviour, and can distort memory as well as society’s acceptance of life in the future. The Covid-19 crisis is and will be no different.
In 2008, a massive financial crisis took place in the West caused by misconduct of leading banks in America and Europe. It has become known as the “Global Financial Crisis”.
Really? Did it not occur in the West and was caused by excesses in the banking system there? I call it the “Western Financial Crisis.” However, the term Global Financial Crisis has stuck and is used globally, including by us in the unthinking East.
It is not only factually wrong but allows the masters of the universe from the West to continue to strut about teaching minions in the East how to conduct good financial practice.
In 1997-98, the financial crisis was straightaway termed the Asian Financial Crisis. We accepted it because it was true. It was caused by poor corporate governance in the East as well deficient regulation of the banking system.
Thus, different versions of the truth emerge which accord a superiority to Western financial and economic management not substantiated by the evidence.
Now that we are in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis, various fiscal and monetary measures have been introduced by ALL governments across the globe that have been overwhelmed by the pandemic.
Brace for double standards in the treatment of Western fiscal deficits and central bank involvement in addressing economic collapse, unemployment and social distress, against the East. What percentage of budget deficit and debt to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be allowed for Malaysia as against, say, Britain?
Yes, the Western financial experts — who have failed before don’t forget — will come up with all sorts of analyses based on size of economy, ability to service debt, the tenure and so on. Now, also creeping in, is a measure of a country’s balance sheet where, I am sure, extravagant values will be given to a Western country’s castles, parks, museums and so on.
Tables are being drawn up of emerging markets most in peril from their anti-Covid financial and monetary measures. Is there any, with particular attention to Western economies?
Will there be a heavy penalty for mismanagement of the Covid19 crisis in the West which will impute a charge against ability to pay, not just because of Covid-19 tragic failures but also from the evidence of poor economic management in the last decade since the Western Financial Crisis?
The point is we must stand tall when we can and not let words obscure the truth. We must build our own financial and capital markets with strong public and private institutions so that we are not exposed to the vagaries of “foreign” portfolio flows by Western institutions cycling and recycling our own savings.
We have to believe in ourselves. Use of superior terms by Western institutions of economic, financial and monetary management, such as the infamous moral hazard that was thrown out of the window during the Western Financial Crisis, must not be allowed to floor us. We should not have an inferiority complex.
Nevertheless, we have to recognise our weaknesses. Corruption is the plague of the East. Not that there is no corruption in the West, but they have laws and the courts which are independent of the politicians who comprise the executive and legislative arms of government.
Just one single term “corruption”, just one largest scandal ever, such as 1MDB in Malaysia, define the country and push the people and economy way down the league table of access to debt finance and capacity to repay, as borrowed money will go into the pockets of corrupt politicians instead of building up economic capacity. Unless of course the country pays a corruption premium on the cost of borrowing — setting back the people’s and the economy’s interest further.
Next, political instability. Malaysia, for instance again, lost what was its strongest card — political stability — since Pakatan Harapan (PH) came to power in May 2018. PH did not manage well the intricacies of coalition politics, new to Malaysia, which caused its downfall and was replaced by an even looser coalition, Perikatan Nasional (PN).
At a time of gravest challenge to life and economy in the country’s history, we have a government living on its wits and on the goodwill of a factionalised Umno which could be toppled in Parliamentary vote.
Yet, the country cannot afford more political instability — and uncertainty — which would cost it dear in the war against Covid19, recovery of the economy and ability to borrow money at reasonable cost.
When the PH government collapsed on Feb 24, while Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was interim prime minister until Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in on March 1, a 16,000 people tabligh gathering had taken place (Feb 27 to March 1), which was to cause 40 per cent of Covid-19 infections in Malaysia.
Nobody was around to take responsibility to review the permit granted to hold the gathering against the dark clouds of the gathering Covid-19 storm. Do we want a similar situation to arise in the midst of the present war against the virus?
Surely not. Indeed the whole country must come together to back the government at this critical juncture in the country’s history, where the issue is life and death — and the nation’s survival. Politicians bent on toppling the government will have blood on their hands.
In coming together however there is one term which is used worldwide that is not good for national and social unity. It is “social distancing” which might come to gain currency as the 2008 “Global Financial Crisis” has done.
Social distancing is another term which is factually incorrect. What we are talking about is “safe distancing”, a physical distancing.
At this time more than ever we have to get together, not build ramparts against one another. We need a togetherness and a closeness, the solidarity as a nation. Social distancing can become the antithesis of this. Behaviour in various queues for goods and services around the country attests to this.
So “safe distancing” or “physical distancing” is more exact and appropriate.
Achieving solidarity and giving support to the government, however, must not be blind and uncritical. The differences of view over the Prime Minister’s announcement on May 1 of relaxations in the MCO, are a healthy communication to the government that its policies must always be justified.
In that particular instance, the criticisms served to clarify the issues involved: the need to restart the economy but under stringent conditions which must be observed on pain of withdrawal of right to operate the business; that some other social relaxations do not mean the MCO is over or that the war against Covid-19 is won; and that personal and social discipline of good hygiene and protective practices must continue.
One particular emerging practice, however, should even now be subjected to public scrutiny. This comes with the term “contact tracing” which could be put to good or bad use.
The government must not abuse the need to know where someone has been and who he or she has been in contact with. It is to contain the spread of Covid-19.
It should not become “Big Brother is Watching You” to erode liberty and freedom, in Malaysia guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.
There has to be public scrutiny. The judiciary has to be vigilant.
Contact tracing could become every dictator or would-be dictator’s wet dream.
Already, in this country, there have been comments that a number of countries in the West have largely screwed up in the fight because they love freedom too much.
This is blatantly untrue and a dangerous caricature of a varied record. To name a few, in Scandinavia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Germany — which are all democracies — significant success has been achieved in the long war against Covid-19.
The most critical factor in the “New Normal”, another emerging term which can be twisted to suit predisposition, is personal, social and corporate discipline.
That discipline must also be used to protect our freedoms and rights. The writer, a former NST group editor, returns to write on local and international political affairs