COMMENT | The fairy tale of the national emergency

COMMENT | When the government announced a national emergency, shares on Bursa Malaysia tumbled. Global analysts instantly shaved off 1.5 percent from their forecast of annual economic growth in the country.

Covid-19 cases showed no signs of slowing down with hospital beds reaching a “breaking point”. RHB Bank estimated that this lockdown could translate to RM3 billion losses in private consumption per week.

Tens of thousands of companies have shut down and more will follow; almost a million jobs have been lost and counting. Our democratic institutions stifled, our economic recovery stymied.

But in the small constituency of Gerik in Perak and in the hilly Bugaya of Sabah, all is calm. According to Senior Minister Azmin Ali, the state of emergency imposed here has no negative effects. There was no weakening of investors’ confidence; presumably no retraction of the economy. No suffering.

So much so that these two states should serve as macroeconomic evidence that the emergency nationwide will not weaken investors’ confidence to invest in Malaysia.

I know what you’re thinking: How could these two (unheard of) places serve as proof that the emergency has no effect on investors’ confidence in the country as a whole? Isn’t this a gross misrepresentation and oversimplification? Isn’t this misleading and...