"NOTHING lasts forever." Wise words of our grandfathers, uttered usually to give us comfort and hope whenever we are in great difficulty. Now we tell our children the same thing: this Movement Control Order (MCO) will not last forever.
But when will it end? More importantly, do we have an exit plan? I posed both questions to a Kedah elder (a retired civil servant with more than four decades of administrative experience) last Sunday.
He replied in the negative to both questions. But then, he added: "The government may have prepared something, but the leaders are not ready yet to announce it to the public."
Yes, we are in suspense mode.
A senior executive of a telecommunications company, now forced to work from home, had texted me asking if the government was prepping us for Hari Raya to be celebrated under the MCO. It certainly appears so, especially after it was reported that there was a possibility that Hari Raya prayers should be performed at home.
While this is something that is not pleasant to digest, such practices are now the new normal — we are in the new era where social distancing must be exercised, and gatherings must be avoided, at least until the Covid-19 chain of transmission is broken and a vaccine is found.
Most countries are already restless and judging by foreign reports, they are gearing for a partial lifting of the lockdown to restore some semblance of normalcy.
Among the countries are United States, Belgium, Italy, Greece, and France. Some of us may find this hard to believe, bearing in mind that most of these countries, especially the United States, are among the worst hit. The US, in particular, has more than one million Covid-19 cases and 56,809 deaths up to 3pm yesterday.
Countries such as Spain, one of the countries that had the strictest lockdown since the pandemic started, has now allowed children to come out and play for an hour a day, accompanied by one parent, in an area no further than 1km from their home.
And in Georgia, the government (rejecting the advice of "experts") allowed thousands of businesses to resume operations, "from hairdressers to bowling alleys". Apparently, according to reports, citizens had asked: "How much longer do we have to imprison ourselves?"
Malaysia's MCO has been extended to May 12 and there is already talk that it could be extended further. Lifting of the MCO should be done gradually, not immediately. There is the fear that if the MCO is stopped completely, it would open the floodgates — like allowing children out to play after a long period of quarantine — they may just go wild!
We cannot simply return to normal after cases have gone down to double digits — another explosive outbreak is possible. This is a big decision for the government — when to act, which and what restrictions to lift, how to contain the virus when the restrictions have been lifted and how to balance saving lives with long-term damage to society. It is going to be a long journey — one that I don't think will end in a few weeks.
We may want to look at how other countries are easing down on their lockdown mode. In the Czech Republic, for instance, the universities reopened on Monday, and meetings in groups of fewer than 10 people are allowed, but face masks must be worn in public.
In Greece, registry offices and courts have reopened, and Austria will allow shopping centres and hairdressers to reopen on May 1, with restaurants and hotels in mid-May.
Whatever the case for Malaysia, there must be a contingency plan in place.
The writer is a former federal counsel at the Attorney-General's Chambers, and is deputy chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War