THE tabligh issue seems to have gone beyond the health dimension. Some politicians are blaming others and trying to claim credit while the rakyat are anxious to know when the outbreak will end. This could be the reason why once things are under control, thanks mostly to the technocrats headed by Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and his dedicated team, the politicians are keen to steal the thunder.
It makes no significant difference who is at fault. Nothing can be reversed. No point crying over spilt milk, as conventional wisdom tells us. Yes “wisdom” – which is what politics needs to be energised with to be relevant and compassionate especially given the mess we are in together locally, regionally and globally.
We need social solidarity not distancing, worse still political bickering. We need humility, empathy, authenticity, sincerity, and magnanimity – all the values that inspire people to give when there are so many who are left in the lurch. We need it now, not three years later when the jostling for power starts.
Politicians talk about human values all the time but seldom walk the talk. Thanks to the narrow political idea of “me-I-myelf”, which is, no better than the coronavirus that they profess to “fight” – but it is nowhere near to what the frontliners do quietly, putting their lives on the line in hazardous situations.
Then the politicians were busy with their petty struggles. The risk they faced is nowhere close to what the frontliners have to face when there is a lack of medical facilities and supplies that they rightly deserve, not just to save lives, but also to protect themselves, physically and mentally too.
Incidentally, the latter is looming large but remains poorly articulated as a public concern. This is an area that politicians worth their salt should be pushing ahead of time.
Reportedly, the coronavirus pandemic is likely to have a “profound and pervasive impact” on global mental health as billions struggle to cope with living in isolation and anxiety spikes, a group of experts warned last week.
In a paper published in Lancet Psychiatry, a panel of 24 specialists call for more funding for research into the impacts Covid-19 may have on society’s mental well-being.
Based on two surveys of the British public, the paper reported that most respondents had experienced heightened anxiety and fear of becoming mentally unwell since the pandemic struck.
The lead author, Emily Holmes from Uppsala University’s department of psychology, said: “We are all dealing with unprecedented uncertainty and major changes to the way we live our lives as a result of coronavirus.
“Our surveys show these changes are already having a considerable impact on our mental health.”
And this is in well developed countries that are more conscious about their state of well-being and wellness.
The authors called for “real-time monitoring of anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide across the world,” as well as the creation of treatment programmes that can be accessed remotely. The question is, where are we in this as a complementary strategy post-Covid to mitigate the consequences not just physically, but also mentally, if not spiritually.
Let us not forget that the outbreak in South Korea revolved around a fringe religious sect.
About 60% of the country’s more than 4,000 confirmed cases then, were sect members, believed to have infected one another and then travelled around the country, apparently undetected.
This sounds like the tabligh gathering at home, but the storyline is different.
The head of the sect apologised to the nation for the disease’s spread. Lee Man-hee allegedly got on his knees and bowed at a news conference without the intervention of politicians. The rest is history. Korea dealt swiftly with the issues at hand single-mindedly without having to resort to MCOs, less still an emergency or curfews, sparing them from the agony of mental health issues relatively speaking.
Experts reiterated that the impact of the epidemic is unprecedented, with billions of people forced to isolate at home and no end in sight. These include increased anxiety, the effects of social isolation, the fear of becoming mentally unwell and accessing care if needed.
Expert opinions noted that these symptoms were likely to continue well into the future, even after the current round of lockdowns (MCO in our case) are eased. They called for government funding to establish specialised working groups comprising people with experience of mental health impacts to ensure research and treatment are prioritised
“The scale of this problem is too serious to ignore, both in terms of every human life that may be affected, and in terms of the wider impact on society,” to quote one of them.
Where are the politicians in bringing this point home?
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
