By Dr Helmy Haja

It is an open secret that Malaysia has been facing a crisis of confidence among international investors over the past few months, culminating in the recent drop in our GDP.

The uncertain global economic outlook has played a role, but the lack of political stability has led those with capital to place their bets on countries like Vietnam and Indonesia that are deemed to be more focused on their economic development.

The shameful display of arrogance and greed that culminated in the recent seismic change in government has certainly not helped matters. In fact, we can expect further signs of uneasiness over the next few weeks.

To the political elite, it is another day at the games but for the rest of the rakyat, there is increasing trepidation especially with news of COVID-19 in the deadlines on an almost daily basis.

In a moment of crisis, everyone looks to the leader for stability and direction. The leader who fails to provide these risks not only losing control of the situation, but of losing the support and respect of his team. At this point in time, there is no greater challenge and crisis that the new prime minister must focus on apart from the economy and that of COVID-19.

It must be recognized that COVID-19 is a humanitarian challenge that transcends political and geographic fault lines. Viruses are living beings designed to spread and they do not spare a thought for political shenanigans. Thus far there have been almost 3,000 deaths among almost 100,000 cases, and the rate of increase is not going to halt anytime soon.

In fact, it is very likely that the caseload in Malaysia will increase dramatically given our proximity to countries like Singapore and Indonesia. This will have profound consequences on both the capacity of our healthcare service as well as the economy.

It is therefore imperative that the prime minister move to quickly appoint ministers in the key roles of health and the economy. There is no doubt that time is necessary to find the right balance in his cabinet, but core portfolios that require immediate representation and direction should be quickly filled by men or women who have the experience and necessary skills to help navigate the nation through choppy times as well as to instill confidence to the markets.

Although the ministry of health has the second largest budget and is ably led by its director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, it is likely that emergency funds will need to be released for the purpose of increasing diagnostic and therapeutic capacity across the country alongside ensuring that frontline healthcare staff are adequately supported. Resources should be more focused with less spent on policies like implementing travel bans which have been shown to be ineffective.

The health minister will need to hit the ground running by ensuring adequate and proper representation in the cabinet and Parliament. He or she will need to be the spokesperson for the ministry, ensure that resources are allocated appropriately and provide the framework and strategic policy direction for the civil service.

On the economic front, the stimulus that was released last week is unlikely to be sufficient. Restriction of travel and fear of public contact does not only impact the tourism and hospitality sectors, but will affect aviation, automotive and retail/consumer products globally.

Malaysia is already seeing a slowdown in travel. These will increase as new sites of community-based COVID-19 transmission are identified across the globe leading to a drop in tourism spending, reduced activities in the oil & gas sector and disruption to tight inventories and complex supply chains.

Another economic stimulus package that targets SMEs should be introduced. These companies which contribute to 99% of the Malaysian economy will suffer disproportionately. 90% of these companies are involved in the service sector and will not be able to cope given poor liquidity, thin profit margins and inability to quickly access capital.

The government should provide support without bureaucratic hurdles, whilst also preparing risk mitigation strategies for when workplaces and schools are forced to be closed. These multi-channel approaches across silos are very important to build confidence among domestic and international stakeholders but it can only be done if there are competent generals in place with clear lines of communication.

Whilst there were many good ministers in the previous government, the coalition suffered from an inability to shed incompetent ministers and there was a lack of coordination and discipline among them when it came to communications and policy delivery. The country can ill afford for these to carry on, lest we get further mired in an economic and public health quagmire.

(Dr Helmy Haja is a respiratory physician with an interest in socioeconomic affairs.)