2020

Dear Friends of Malaysia,

It is a great pleasure to let you know that Malaysia has been ranked fourth in a global survey on citizens’ perception of their country's responses to the COVID-19 pandemic recently. Conducted by Singapore's leading social research agency, Blackbox Research in collaboration with Toluna, an international online panel specialist, the survey involved 12,592 respondents between the ages of 18 to 80, across 23 countries, from April 3 to 19.

We note that even though this Toluna-Blackbox Index of Global Crisis Perceptions showed majority of the individual surveyed were not satisfied with their governments in addressing the pandemic especially the Western countries, but it seemed to be the other way around for Malaysians.  Malaysia’s overall score is higher than the global average in all the key performance indicators: national political leadership, corporate leadership, community and media, thus ranking her ahead of several countries like Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

Special thanks to our government especially to those medical and security front line workers for their relentless effort in combating this COVID-19 pandemic. As of May 12, there is an increase in the number of COVID-19 recoveries in Malaysia, totalling to 5,223 in which it represents 77.47% of the total positive cases.

Since the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) has been extended for another four weeks from May 12 until June 9, we hope Malaysians will continue practicing the new normal especially social distancing rule during upcoming festive season of Hari Raya Aidilfitri. While there will be no Hari Raya exodus from towns to the villages due to interstate travel restriction, we hope this will steer a course of encouraging developments in our fight to contain the outbreak.

On the other note, we welcome Sabah government's decision to reopen certain domestic tourism activities (within the state of Sabah only) which includes adventure and recreation such as diving, accommodation, food and beverages as well as ticketing services, starting May 10 with strict adherence to the standard operating procedure (SOP) stipulated by the Health Ministry. However, no usage of facilities such as Muslim prayer room, gymnasium, spa, sauna, lounge, swimming pools, meeting rooms, seminar halls, training rooms, restaurants and cafes for buffet at hotels.

Art and cultural activities that involve less than ten people are allowed alongside the environmental, wildlife and state park activities, either for recreational, surveillance or research purposes. This include wildlife tourist attractions managed by Sabah Parks, Tabin Wildlife Resort, Danum Valley, Maliau Basin, Imbak Canyon, Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre, Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary and Kota Kinabalu Wetland.

As we keep the spirit of unity in our multicultural society, let’s not risk our health for the sake of upcoming festivities. Instead, community empowerment with the practice of social responsibility during the CMCO are crucial in order to protect and safeguard our green zones from coronavirus. Together we can win the war against COVID-19!