#DaruratBanjir: Our Expectations for You were Low but Holy...

The end of 2021 was marked by disaster for too many in Southeast Asia. Weather conditions were notably severe in parts of the region, especially for the Philippines due to Typhoon Odette, violently disrupting the lives of more than four million people.

While weather-related destruction was not as severe as in the Philippines, the December 2021 floods in Malaysia displaced tens of thousands. Despite it being one of the worst floods the country has seen, the official response was widely seen as being astoundingly slow, and it was followed by finger-pointing and defensive statements by government agencies.

For the second time in a year, frustrated citizens and migrants took it upon themselves to help one another.

On Twitter, #DaruratBanjir (Flood Emergency) took off, with the hashtag used to highlight SOS alerts, coordinate rescue efforts, and amplify donation drives. A peak of 800,000 hashtag uses is an extremely large figure for Malaysia social media, and should be a wake up call for the government (at federal and state level) and politicians.

Old hashtags such as #KitaJagaKita (we take care of each other) and #RakyatJagaRakyat (the People take care of the People) resurfaced as well, though not to the extent of a boom of #DaruratBanjir messages. Similarly, #KerajaanGagal (failed government) and #KerajaanBangsat made a comeback, with #KerajaanPembunuh (Murderous Government) spiking around the time the first reported death due to the floods was made.

The phrases "DO NOT DONATE TO GOVERNMENT” and “DO NOT DONATE HERE” (typically typed in all caps) have gained significant traction as well. These campaigns were netizens’ response to the Keluarga Malaysia Flood Relief Flood launched on 21 December 2021—many disagreed with the government’s decision to raise funds for flood victims by collecting donations from the public and urged others to donate to reputable NGOs instead. Exasperated Malaysians would later tweet the same advice to Apple CEO Tim Cook when he announced that the tech giant will be contributing to relief efforts to Malaysia and Philippines.

Note: The charts above depict the number of mentions of popular hashtags and phrases used in relation to the December 2021 floods; the bottom chart is the same as the one above, but without #DaruratBanjir (which was used extensively to pinpoint SOS alerts, donation drives, and emergency appeals) for easier analysis. #KitaJagaKita, #RakyatJagaRakyat, and the #KerajaanGagal/Bangsat/Pembunuh hashtags were already used earlier in the year, particularly during the #BenderaHitam (black flag), #BenderaPutih (white flag), and #Lawan (fight) movements, which were triggered after a year of questionable pandemic management by officials.

All in all, public reaction paints a clear indication of a trust deficit in the government. With the disastrous way officials responded during and after the floods, including recent attempts to censor/censure tweets critical of the government, people are wondering how Putrajaya will regain the rakyat’s trust .

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In other related observations, the World Bank has not had time to measure the impact from the floods in the country. It has urged Malaysia to continue with its existing income reliefs for another six months, especially for its poor and most vulnerable communities, following the the launch of its Malaysia Economic Monitor December 2021 Edition Report on 21 Dec 2021.

On the issue of problematic policy, politics and the floods: it is unfortunately nothing new. Khor Reports has written about it in The Political-Economy of Land Development (or the Politics of Floods) back in 2018. Climatic changes from a regular to wetter-than-usual weather (La Nina phenomenon, was well known months ago) increases flood risks, and combined with major land development-clearance activities, and dysfunctional federal-state planning (with invariably go-getting state land development projects), flood crises will surely become politicised, especially of this scale and tragedy.

On PalmTrack, we also have a post on the impact of the floods on palm oil supply for both Indonesia and Malaysia. Subscribe to read the full post.

The People Ain't Happy: The #Lawan Protests

Public sentiment on Twitterjaya has not improved since our last post—developments on the political front, while interspersed with heart-warming achievements by all our athletes throughout the ongoing Tokyo Olympics, continue to chip away at the Rakyat’s patience.

Most recently, the drama is centred around special Parliamentary sitting, which culminated in the King reprimanding de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan for misleading Parliament after the latter made a startling claim that royal assent has been given to revoke the Emergency Ordinances introduced during Malaysia’s state of emergency. Interestingly, proceedings were then postponed indefinitely after Covid-19 cases were reportedly detected in the Parliament buildings.

After more than a year of questionable pandemic management by officials, public frustration has finally spilled on to the streets. 31 Jul saw #Lawan (fight) protestors gathering in Kuala Lumpur to voice their dissatisfaction against the Mahiaddin government. The use of #Lawan hashtag recorded an impressive total of more than 210,000 mentions on Twitter on the day of the protest alone. Other notable hashtags including #KeluardanLawan (get out and fight) and #LawanIntimidasi (fighting intimidation) also received significant attention, receiving about 19,000 and 11,000 mentions respectively. #Lawan received another spike when Opposition MPs staged a protest on 2 Aug in response to the postponement of parliament proceedings, recording about 41,000 mentions that day.

In contrast, the long popular #KerajaanGagal (failed government) similarly showed an uptick in mentions, albeit less dramatic compared to the aforementioned, more event-specific hashtags.

Note: #Lawan again recording a staggering number of mentions, further solidifying our opinion of the campaign potentially being one of Malaysia’s most successful online campaigns thus far.

#BukaDataran (Open up the Dataran) was used during the #Lawan protest when demonstrators were barred by police from entering the Dataran Merdeka. #HartalDoktorKontrak (contract doctors’ strike) refers to the nationwide strike on 26 Jul by contract doctors over unfair employment conditions; the hashtag recorded up to 146,000 mentions on Twitter on the day of the strike.

The pandemic has clearly made online campaigns increasingly popular as an outlet for public disapproval. Unfortunately, official response against these campaigns seem to generally consist of either threatening compounds against protestors, calling up individuals for police questioning, or arresting activists involved in these protests. Whatever it is the government is intending, these actions are unlikely to gain much candy points from the already irate public.

Prepare for Trouble, Make it Double: Anger in Malaysia after Double Standards by Government

In the past two weeks, Malaysians have taken to the social media to vent their frustrations over the handling of the surge of COVID-19.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who had built his legitimacy on his swift tackling of the COVID-19 earlier this year saw his popular streak came to a grinding halt. Public sentiment turned against him in what they perceived as double-standard when his cabinet members were not subjected to quarantine upon returning from campaigning from Sabah. The government had only imposed quarantine for those returning from Sabah on September 27, a day after the state election.

Anger towards Muhyiddin swelled when in his latest address to the nation, he threatened to ‘rotan’ or cane those who has flouted the SOPs. Hashtags such as #muhyiddinout calling for his ouster, #klustermenteri and #doublestandard gained traction on social media as people voiced their anger towards him. Many felt that he should have ‘caned’ his own cabinet members who have not adhered to the SOPs instead of threatening the public. This came after the minister at the prime minister’s department in charge of Religious Affairs was found to have COVID-19. Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri who had campaigned in Sabah which was a red zone, failed to self-quarantine, instead went on to travel to several other states on official visits. As a result of this, several cabinet members including Muhyiddin were subjected to 14 days quarantine as they had been in the same meeting with Zulkifli.

Maaflah jika abah ini mula menggunakan rotan sekarang. [Sorry that this ‘abah’ is using the cane now.]

Muhyiddin and the government were severely criticised when he was found to not have been issued a pink tag for which is the standard issue for those under quarantine. The Health Ministry came out in defence that Muhyiddin was tested frequently and was found to be negative on all occasions. However, that explanation did nothing to turn the tides.

Last week as the infection numbers surged throughout the country, schools have seen a drop in attendance. Several schools in the Klang Valley were also affected where pupils were confirmed to be positive. In the case of SK Bangsar which had two cases, authorities did not shut down the school despite appeals from parents. The parents then took matters to hand when they collectively did not send their children to attend classes the next day resulting in 0% attendance. This forced the Education Ministry to close the school for a week for purposes of cleaning and sanitation which is the standard practice for premises which have confirmed cases. This move by parents is another outraged against the government’s attitude in tackling the health crisis.

At this time of writing, the government has imposed conditional movement control order (CMCO) from October 14 to 27 on Selangor, Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (Sabah has also been put under CMCO for 14 days beginning Oct 13) as an effort to stem the spread of the virus.

In the midst of this public anger and political instability, MP Syed Saddiq, who has since established his Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda), has launched the PauseMalaysia campaign (#PauseMalaysia), urging all politicians and political parties to stop their alleged tussle for powers and focus on safeguarding Malaysians from the Covid-19 pandemic

Citing Malaysians as being tired of the power play, the campaign called for ceasefire among all political parties arguing that the people are the ones who suffer as a result of the current spate of power grabbing. Pause Malaysia also asked that there should be no general election as long as the COVID-19 virus continues to spread. Its final request was for the government Opposition and Independent politicians to come together, find a way to cooperate and make the people’s welfare their top priority.

This call for political ceasefire is not unique to MUDA. In August, DAP’s MP Anthony Loke asked for a ceasefire which fell to deaf ears. #PauseMalaysia has yet to gain much traction outside the Twitter sphere. A poll ran by BFM, a local radio station, saw 60% of listeners disagreeing with the campaign while Bridget Welsh, honorary research associate at the University of Nottingham’s Asia Research Institute said that the campaign was mis-named as reality of COVID-19, patronage and politicking will go on. “Some parties already preparing for elections/by-elections. Muda could be seen ironically campaigning through this initiative. 'Pausing' empowers those in power w/o solutions to problems,” said Welsh.

By KHOR Yu Leng, Sharon TAN, and Khor Reports’ PolTracker, 15 Oct 2020

The Highspeed Geography of Malaysia's Upcoming General Election

Geo-economics by #KhorReports. Malaysia's 14th General Election (#GE14 #PRU14): The first major mobile #SocialMedia influenced election?

Mobile broadband connections was accessed by 14% of the population in 2013 (13th General Election/ #GE13 #PRU13) and now that has risen to about 54% (based on reports released Jan 2014 and Jan 2018 by WAS).

While mobile social use was already at 44% in 2013, the geography and speed of connection was a limiting factor on messaging possibilities and reach versus traditional media.

Our diagram below shows the high speed geography for GE13 (pink-red) versus GE14 (light green). #Malaysia #GeneralElection #PoliticalEconomy #Politics

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