KUALA LUMPUR, April 17 — Malaysia is fortunate as it is in a better position to fight the spread of Covid-19 as its relatively smaller population spread out over a wider area enables social distancing unlike some neighbouring countries with bigger populations, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.
Dr Mahathir was asked to comment on the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent projection that Malaysia is expected to experience the highest economic growth rate next year among five Asean countries at nine per cent depending on the Covid-19 pandemic dying off in 2020’s second half, as compared to the IMF’s projections for Indonesia (8.2 per cent), Thailand (6.1 per cent), the Philippines (7.6 per cent) and Vietnam (7.0 per cent).
Dr Mahathir then highlighted that a country’s wealth and development levels could be a factor, noting that a relatively rich country would mean that most of its citizens have their own residences where they can stay in, while poorer countries may see more of their citizens not having their own homes.
“So the level of development is also important, the population in Malaysia is not much, 32 million, in the Philippines it is 100 million, in Indonesia 207 million, so if the population size is big, that means they frequently gather when doing something, when going to the market,” he said in an online video interview that was broadcast “live” on his online Facebook page.
He noted for example that Malaysia was still able to practise social distancing by limiting the number of customers at any one time in markets, but said this may not be feasible for countries with larger populations.
“But poor countries with 100 million population and an area that is not big, like the Philippines is smaller than Malaysia, but their population is three times that of Malaysia, to control three times the number of population that sometimes live in squatters, we know that the houses are close to each other and they mingle throughout, can’t isolate self and that’s why infections happen.
Dr Mahathir said it appears that the current rule of staying one metre apart from each other in Malaysia appears sufficient to reduce the number of Covid-19 infections but said the distance could be increased if necessary based on observation, further adding that other countries that may find it tougher to implement the one-metre gap would be more exposed to Covid-19 infections.
“So we are fortunate in Malaysia, our area is wider and the country’s development level is higher and we have more facilities, sufficient rice, can provide respiratory aid and we have more hospitals, and all this reduces infections,” he said.
Dr Mahathir also noted that Malaysia’s hospitals were equipped with sufficient ventilators to provide respiratory aid for Covid-19 patients in critical conditions, also noting that the country has good transportation facilities that allow for easy access to hospitals for those who feel they may have been infected.
He said that Malaysia as the biggest glove producer is even able to supply to others, while frontliners bravely volunteer themselves to fight Covid-19 while others also contribute to the efforts by making face shields as personal protection equipment for frontliners.
As of April 13, Malaysia has 956 ventilator units but limited personal protective equipment for Covid-19 frontliners.
Dr Mahathir also highlighted that Malaysia’s success in tackling the Covid-19 outbreak would depend on how the public responds, citing for example the tabligh gathering in Kuala Lumpur where some attendees did not step forward for screening as they thought they were not infected but ended up spreading the virus to others.
“So this all depends on our response, our sense of responsibility. If we see the Japanese, even in normal times, when they have flu, they cover their faces, not to save themselves but to save others. So covering the face is not to save ourselves only, but to save others, that is civic-mindedness,” he said.
Being disciplined
The 94-year-old also said Covid-19 was unprecedented in terms of severity as an infectious disease, saying that this was the first time he had experienced having a disease being classified as a pandemic and with lockdowns in multiple countries worldwide.
In the same interview with Sunway Velocity Medical Centre’s Dr Nurul Yaqeen Mohd Esa, Dr Mahathir was also asked for his views on what Malaysia could learn from China and South Korea’s successes in tackling the Covid-19 outbreak.
Dr Mahathir shared his observation that the citizens in these two countries were more “disciplined” and compliant with the government’s orders and measures targeted at slowing down the Covid-19 spread, as compared to others such as Europe and US which he said placed more emphasis on personal freedom.
“So we find the approaches shown in China and South Korea are different from developed countries in Europe and the US, that’s why we find China and South Korea are able to tackle this problem more successfully, because when given orders to do something, their citizens will comply.
“But we see in Europe, some don’t take it seriously, some think that this is a problem of poor, less developed countries, they don’t have the medical facilities that we have, we are more advanced, we can tackle this more successfully,” he said, adding that such an attitude led to these countries’ less successful attempts in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is not just facilities that are important, but the attitude of the citizens that are more towards discipline, complying with orders,” he said when pointing at the compliance of residents in Wuhan, China with lockdown orders and the subsequent success in controlling the situation.
While acknowledging that being disciplined runs contrary to freedom and requires the following of rules in an age when citizens prefer the government to be less restrictive of freedoms, Dr Mahathir said that the lack of discipline would result in rules not being complied with and adverse consequences.
“They are paying a very high price with so many deaths,” he said, noting the high Covid-19 death toll in countries that prize freedom over Covid-19 controls such as US, Italy and Spain in the tens of thousands.
“This is because in blocking this virus, what is important is infections, if there are no infections this virus will end. Just like a person on an island with no one else, he won’t infect others, if there is anyone nearby there will be infections,” he said.
Malaysia is currently in the middle of a six-week movement control order (MCO) that restricts Malaysians from moving about except for essential activities, and currently has a death toll of 84 as of yesterday noon.
