(5月21日)亮相在慈濟的大愛臺。
credit: 感謝仕強有關HIDE系統評論的論點
马来西亚行动方略联盟(GBM)和公民社会组织改革平台(CSO Platform)吁请公众踊跃提交建议书给《人民宣言》底下的27个政策主题。
两大组织表示,这是一个两大社运联盟的合作项目,特别是正当传言说今年将会举行闪电大选,这个宣言更显得重要且深具意义。
大马行动方略联盟是个拥有27个组织成员的联盟,其关注点在于国家团结以及社会包容课题,公民社会组织改革平台则是个全国80个组织成员的社运大联盟,为了促进制度改革。
他们指出,《人民宣言》与一般民众认知的政党竞选宣言不一样,它不是一份‘政党的促销手册’用以捞取选票(进而赢得选举),同时也不会是一个由上而下决定、由背后几位不知名的政党写手完成的内容。
“《人民宣言》旨在收集和呈现国人的多元声音,渴望建立一个和谐、平等和进步的国度。同时,《人民宣言》也将会精简准确表达人民的清楚要求,指引民选政府履行社会责任照顾国内百姓和各行各业,没人因此而掉队被遗弃。”
他们说,过去的竞选宣言往往为了政党的最大利益而撰写和发表,缺乏咨询社会里真正有需要的人;弱势、无权和被边缘化的群体人士的声音经常被埋没、没被聆听,更何况当这些群体不足以构成一股选民力量来吸引这些政治人物的关注。
“《人民宣言》将会采取不同的做法:由下而上、包容性、广泛地壮大社运联盟,同时让拥有相近愿景和价值观的参与者成为宣言的其中一份子,并呈现参与者的声音和真实身份。”
大马行动方略联盟与公民社会组织改革平台除了鼓励公众提呈建议,同时也欢迎公众参与回馈和同行评审的过程。
今年7月参与者将被邀请出席一场政策民众大会,届时大家一起讨论政策倡议,集体决定哪个建言将被《人民宣言》录取。因此,打造《人民宣言》的过程展现了参与式民主的意义,因为这宣言重视理性讨论和审议过程。
《人民宣言》底下的27个政策主题有三个中心,包括(一)多元团结/马来西亚族、(二)促进、改善和捍卫公民权利和自由、(三)朝向一个公正、平等和民主社会地理位置(如沙巴、砂拉越、北马和东海岸地区),以及受影响群组(如妇女、儿童和青年)和政策主题(如经济正义、教育、卫生、反贪、司法改革)等课题,将接受公众提呈建议书。
大马行动方略联盟与公民社会组织改革平台欢迎民众在截止日期6月11日之前使用这个链接:http://bit.ly/ManifestoRakyat来提呈建议书。
欢迎游览《人民宣言》面子书网页http://www.facebook.com/ManifestoRakyat2021 以获知更多详情和进展。
中國報的報道
5月4日,联邦政府率先宣布在雪州的六个县实施了两周的行管令,隔天才宣布对吉隆坡和其他地区作出同样的决定,这已令人诟病。近来政府确实在与民众沟通方面往往举棋不定、每隔两三天作出不同的宣布。民众似乎已眼花缭乱,继续混淆。
比如说,在雪州曾下达指令要关闭所有的幼儿园,可是隔天就被迫U-转了——因为最终方案落在首相慕尤丁手上。5月10日傍晚,慕尤丁通过社交媒体上载了一个文告宣布了从5月12日开始实施全国行动管制令,或俗称MCO 3.0。
早前,前首相纳吉在推特上讥讽在巴生谷落实的MCO 3.0,上载了篱笆和门把的图片比拟MCO 1.0到3.0的严格程度。他认为目前的MCO 3.0好比栏门没上锁的牧场农地。在社交媒体上有更多人恶搞制图嘲笑MCO 3.0的措施。似乎公众意见都认为MCO 3.0不会成功。事实真的如此吗?
首先,我们得先自问行管令的功能和目的是什么?我们不能否认目前新冠疫情导致的公共卫生危机是最大的威胁,但行管令措施也必须兼顾众多社会经济考量以及满足社会的期望和需要。是的,我国与疫情纠缠快要一年半,政府和公众已累积了不少经验和知识如何应付疫情冲击。再说,纵使是最乐观的说法,都认同新冠疫情至少会蔓延至明年。
目前的全国疫苗接种率仍偏低,截至5月16日才有5.9%人口已接种了至少一剂疫苗。虽然这主要是疫苗供应的问题,但目前低疫苗覆盖率人口无法有效遏制病毒传播与蔓延,这情况相当令人担忧。
回到MCO 1.0也不是办法
事实上,即使落实最为严格、犹如MCO 1.0般的封城令,这也不可能让新冠病毒在我国绝迹。严格的行管令最多能比较快速地把每日新增病例拉低至一个卫生部能掌控的局面。纵观现在国内的疾病负担(4万3506个活跃病例,过去一周平均超过4000每日新增病例),相信即使政府祭出MCO 1.0长达一个月也无法把这些疫情数字降至一个让政府能够重新允许跨州通行的水平。那么,到底MCO需要落实多久才行?
假设一个月内真的可以快刀斩乱麻解决问题,那么万一3个月后疫情又恶化了,该怎么办?每三个月周期性地落实MCO 1.0绝对不是一个理想的解决方案,也不是应对疫情的合理方式,因为这会对经济和社会成本造成极大的损伤,国家承担不起。既然如此,更为宽松的MCO 3.0措施岂不是更不能抑制疫情?
MCO 3.0仍足以控制疫情
要了解某个抗疫措施是否有效,我们得回到病毒传播的基础。对于新冠肺炎,病毒传播和感染一般建立在人与人之间的互动和近距离接触。因此任何广泛的政策只要包含有效减少显著人口外出的策略,照理应该可以为疫情降温, 因为人潮少了自然不利于病毒的传播。
暂时关闭社交场所(如餐饮堂食、酒吧、电影院)和禁止社交活动(如婚礼、佳节经典、生日派对、展览、会议等),应该足以减少人们外出的理由和与群众接触的机率,除了工作、膳食、个人户外运动或处理日常家事。
另外,目前跨州跨县的禁令可以确保病毒传播是在地的课题,因此特定的抗疫策略可以用来抑制本地传播,同时保护其他绿区免于本地输入感染风险。
截至5月17日,超过8成的西马县市地区被列为红区,特别是西海岸。面对如此严峻局势,假设政府欲继续“针对性”政策、时而宣布不同地区的行管令,他们的理据也日益单薄,因为这样做反而会造成更多民众感到混淆。没错,首相慕尤丁已食言违背其承诺说不会再推行全国规模的行管令,但目前严重的全国疫情走势让政府逼不得已只好重新祭出此措施。
政府也曾承诺过行管令措施不会影响大部分经济领域的运作。换句话说,抗疫措施只可因人民的生计理由而被“妥协”。同时这也预告著,在不久的未来,工作单位相关的感染群将重新占据每日新增感染群的较大比重,而目前增加的社区感染群如来自社区邻里、宗教和教育机构等预料将会受MCO 3.0影响而显著减少。如此一来,政府将更能控制当地的疫情、更有效地追踪病例。
如果根据过去MCO 1.0和2.0趋势观察,我们首先得预设每日新增病例或持续上升大约两周,这其实反映出行管令落实前的病毒传染和群众接触史。或许要到行管令第四周末期,大概我们才能有信心看到每日新增病例等疫情数字出现明显下降的趋势。
行管令可舒缓医疗压力
卫生部最担心的莫过于活跃病例和疫情监控量,同时还有入院病人负担是否已达危急的医疗负荷量水平,主要指的是病床、重症加护病房以及呼吸机的使用是否接近或已经饱和。过去一周,平均每日新增确诊病例都超过4000例,而且主要冲击雪隆区。这也加剧了当地的医疗资源需求,特别是来自医护前线人员的护理——后者目前已处于高压的工作状态。
在5月15至17日的三天,就有125人因新冠肺炎而死亡,国家好比处于战争状态。因此行管令是正当的需要,可让卫生部和医护前线人员在未来数周能及时舒缓压力,确保能继续提供良好素质的医疗护理。
公众必须要对MCO 3.0措施有合理的期待:最终它将可为疫情降温及减少病人入院数量,而不是把每日确诊数字短期内降至双位数。不要说MCO 3.0没用,时间将可证明这些措施可以有效地减少每日确诊病例和感染群数量,舒缓医疗系统的压力,同时减少公众对疫情的担忧和焦虑。更重要的是,社会各阶层人士可以保住饭碗,能供养家庭。
或许我仅有的不满在于政府为何不在5月4日就直接宣布全国行管令,这至少比现在的安排提早了一个星期。抗疫行动的关键在于时间点,因为任何的拖延将会造成严重的后果如飙升的感染和死亡人数。这些情况本可避免,若政府充分利用手头上的数据和分析,应可估计如此的全国疫情告急趋势。
如今最新的一波疫情高浪,我们要一起度过难关。抗疫行动,人人有责。
刊登于《東方日報》東方文薈版《群議良策》專欄2021年5月19日
BFM description:
Malaysia's COVID-19 cases have been progressively rising leaving many to wonder what the increase in numbers means in our fight against the pandemic. First - we hear the case numbers updated daily, and they’ve been alarming. We look at what on-the-ground impact this will have on our healthcare system and communities. We then find out what has been happening with the recent headlines of overcapacity and a lack of coordination at COVID-19 Assessment Centres and Quarantine Centres.
Image Source: YuriAbas, Shutterstock
Produced by: Kelvin Yee, Azlyna Mohd Noor, Alia Zefri
Presented by: Lee Chwi Lynn, Sharmilla Ganesan
listen below for the full interview:
https://www.bfm.my/podcast/evening-edition/inside-story/the-consequences-of-our-rising-covid-19-cases
1.
We get the daily numbers report from KKM - can you help us put the rising cases
in context? What do they actually mean in terms of:
a)
The capacity of our healthcare system
b)
What our case load may look like in the short term
Okay, on the capacity of our healthcare system, this should mean whether we have enough infrastructure or facilities such as quarantine centres, covid hospital beds, ICU wards, ventilators, as well as human resources such as healthcare frontliners and specialists treating the covid patients category 3 and above, as well as health officers to do contact tracing and arrange for testing and quarantine.
So the situation we are in right now is worrying and concerning, because our healthcare system could not cope with daily addition of new covid cases to the level of 3000s - 4000s for much longer, what’s worse, the cases mostly concentrate and hit the Klang Valley hardest, exhausting and depleting fast the local healthcare resources I mentioned before.
Though
with the implementation of MCO starting from 6 May for the most severe 6
districts in Selangor (and KL, one day later), we may expect the daily new case
numbers to plateau soon by the end of this week. If we go by the observation of
past trends following the MCO 1.0 and 2.0, 2 weeks are required to halt the
rising trend. We should expect by the end of fourth week only then the daily
number of new cases could be going on an obvious downtrend.
2.
What are some statistics that are particularly concerning at this stage?
To me, definitely death toll, number of people on ventilator, number of ICU admission, covid-19 hospital beds and active cases. These are the key indicators directly affecting the public health outcomes (eg. sick, death or alive) and the ability of our healthcare system to cope. We should concern with the age profile of the hospitalised covid patients and the categories of new clusters whether they are work-related or originate from community places.
Currently the statistics also show more severe and acute numbers in those respects, compared to the previous height in Jan-Feb. Some said more than 100 died from COVID-19 in 3 days is akin to living in wartime. ICU wards utilisation for covid-19 and number of people on ventilators are also at record high, these are pretty good predictors for the high death toll in coming days.
In
fact, in 26 days, the active case counts doubled from about 21 thousands in 20
April to 42 thousands 2 days ago. Make no mistake, the darkest moment for our
frontliners was on 10th February when they had to cope with 52 thousands active
cases. We are now probably not too far away from the worst.
3.
Specifically, what can we take away from hospitalisation, ICU, and recovery
numbers?
The number of hospitalisations is normally correlated with the statistics concerning the usage of ICU, ventilator and eventually death toll. Treat this as part of the process, with a certain fraction of patients who could go progressively worse in disease prognosis. However, if our healthcare system is overwhelmed by the COVID demand, then the quality of care might go down, therefore this would in turn risk more deaths than usual.
Recovery
numbers might not tell us much , as this is just opposite to death rate,
because whoever recovers from the disease eventually they would be registered
in the recovery number. But the length for these severe symptoms patients to
take to recover and what happened to them aftermath , should be our concern.
Recovered persons can show effects of long-covid, and these are well-documented.
4.
The numbers for cases of Covid-19 related deaths continue to go up and on
Saturday we hit a new record high of 44 deaths. What does this signify?
We should read together in tandem the numbers for ICU admission and those who need ventilators. Yesterday both numbers were 520 and 272, respectively, these set new records too. This signifies that, at this current stage, the SARS-CoV2 virus seems to be causing more severe diseases and more deadly to those who are infected.
Perhaps
more studies and research can shed more light on this phenomenon. People may
worry if the emerging new virus variants of concern have been spreading widely
in the community contributing to this, so far our health ministry is still
doing the disease surveillance, they have not suggested so.
5.
Adequate testing is needed to get a clearer picture of the Covid-19 situation
in the country. Are we doing enough testing nationwide?
One way to determine if we are doing enough testing nationwide is to see the daily positive rate, which is the number of confirmed patients over the number of tested persons.
Health
DG Dr Noor Hisham once said the benchmark for the Health Ministry is: for every
positive test, that should be accompanied with at least 10 negative tests. That
means if the daily positive rate is below 10%, the Health ministry considers it
still a reasonable amount of testing.
For the past week, the average positive rate is 6.8%, higher than the normal
period (between 3-5%) when the pandemic was not that serious like these days.
But
one has to understand, with the interstate and interdistrict travel
restrictions still in place, disease transmission is a local issue. One should ask
if the government has done enough testing in places which matter, for example,
if they have managed to test most if not all following their contact tracing
efforts, and if they go out and test in high risk areas where many hotspots are
found?
6.
One of the major worries is whether our health system can cope with this rise
in cases. How would you say we’re doing?
Not
coping well if the daily new cases keep pouring in, like 3000 or 4000 and
above. Hence, the MCO 3.0 is justified given the dire situation we are
currently in.
7.
We seem to be going in and out of these MCOs. In your opinion, are they
working, or is it inevitable that numbers will rise again once activities open
up?
First, we have to ask what is the function and purpose of the MCO. We need to realise that even the strictest lockdown like MCO 1.0 would not eradicate the virus in the country. At most, it would bring down the number of daily new cases to a manageable level at a faster rate for our Health Ministry.
To understand whether disease control measures like MCO could work, we have to go back to the basics of disease transmission. For Covid-19, the viral infection and spread is mostly possible whenever there is interaction and close contact between people. So logically any broad policy which contains strategies to effectively reduce a significant number of the population going out to interact should help, because the viruses will find fewer people to infect.
The temporary shutdown of social gathering places (restaurants, pubs, cinemas) and banning of social events (wedding banquets, festivals, birthday celebrations, exhibitions, meetings), should remove the incentives for people to go out and interact with one another except for work, food, personal outdoor exercise or running household errands.
So, the public need to have a reasonable expectation that the MCO 3.0 measures would eventually do good to reduce the alarming disease burden and patient load, not really to the level that we could see double-digit low daily new case numbers.
But it is true that once the government relaxes the restrictions, opens up and allows more social activities, the number will probably go up again if the local community's viral burden and threat is still present. That situation might only change if more in the population are vaccinated, and the rest do their best in complying with the SOPs.
8. How accurate of a picture are we getting from the Health Ministry’s daily reports? What are some facts we simply cannot discern from the data?
Health ministry’s daily reports will give you a big picture about what is happening overall in the country, if more clusters and cases have been discovered and whereabout. These should give us some sense about how the government is responding to the pandemic.
Like I said before, with MCO, now disease transmission should be treated as a local issue, thus one must pay more attention to the statistics for your own district and state, and maybe follow the cluster reports about cases in your community.
You
correctly identified, there are limitations of data. Even with the MySejahtera data
technology, they could not tell if we really have close contact with any
confirmed patient, cannot tell if people do behave accordingly like wearing
masks properly or keep their safe physical distance. In the end, phone is just
a proxy. The HIDE data is fuzzy and may not be even useful for the public.
9. For the layperson, how can we make sense of all this data in a meaningful way that helps us stay safe?
Public should pay more attention to the local data to estimate the community risk, but no matter what, we should not let our guards down and comply with SOP and personal hygiene more strictly and carefully. One can easily blame the government but it is ourselves who are responsible for preventing the virus spread. If you can see that the trends are worsening in the state, district and place where you live, you may even want to adjust your lifestyle and workstyle, go out only when necessary.
Understanding
and following the national trends from the Health Ministry daily reports and
government communications, could help you become more informed, hence make even
better judgment and appropriate behaviour, contribute your part in slowing down
the pandemic.
ON May 4, the federal government announced two weeks of movement restrictions in six districts in Selangor, and on the following day announced the same for Kuala Lumpur and other areas.
Communication-wise, the government seems to have the habit of making new announcements every few days. This keeps the public bewildered and confused.
For example, the order to close down pre-schools in Selangor was overturned the next day. The ultimate resolution came on May 10 when Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced on social media a nationwide movement control order, known as MCO 3.0, starting May 12.
Prior to that, former prime minister Najib Razak had made fun of the MCO 3.0 situation in the Klang Valley, using fences and doors to denote the increasingly less stringent rules from the first MCO to the third. He likened the MCO 3.0 situation to loosely fenced farmland.
On social media, many also made creative memes laughing at the MCO3.0 measures. So the public opinion seems to be that MCO3.0 will not work. Is that really so?
First, we have to ask what is the function and purpose of the MCO. Not denying the fact that the public health threat we are facing right now is a major one, but the MCO measures also have to deal with many socio-economic issues and satisfy the social expectation.
Almost one and a half years after the pandemic began in our country, our government and society have gained some experience and knowledge in handling the situation. The pandemic is expected to be prolonged until next year though that is the most optimistic view.
The vaccination rate of the national immunisation programme is low, just 5.86% of the population have received at least one dose of vaccine as of May 14. Although it is mainly due to vaccine supply issues, the current low coverage of the population is a cause for concern.
Even the strictest lockdown a la MCO 1.0 would not eradicate the virus in the country. At most, it would bring down the number of daily new cases to a manageable level at a faster rate for our Health Ministry.
Given the current local disease burden in the country (42,135 active cases with an average 4,000 new cases in the past seven days) even MCO 1.0 measures for a month would not sufficiently suppress the numbers to the level where the government could allow interstate travel. If that is the case, how much longer should the measures be enforced?
Let’s say if that would work just after one month, what if the situation warrants it again two or three months later? Repetitive cycles of going through MCO 1.0 every three month is not an ideal solution or the correct way to handle this pandemic because the economic and social cost is simply too great for the whole country to take.
But does that mean that the looser restriction measures of MCO 3.0 cannot buck the rising trend of pandemic?
To understand whether disease control measures could work, we have to go back to the basics of disease transmission. For Covid-19, the infection and spread is most possible whenever there is interaction and close contact between people.
So logically any broad policy which contains strategies to effectively reduce a significant number of the population going out to interact should help, because the viruses will find fewer people to infect. The temporary shutdown of social gathering places (restaurants, pubs, cinemas) and banning of social events (wedding banquets, festivals, birthday celebrations, exhibitions, meetings), should remove the incentives for people to go out and interact with one another except for work, food, personal outdoor exercise or running household errands.
In addition, the interstate and inter-district travel restriction would ensure disease transmission is a local issue, hence strategies can be devised specifically at containing the local spread, while protecting other “green” zones from exposure to risk of local import.
As of May 15, more than three quarters of districts are categorised as “red” zones in Peninsular Malaysia, more on the west coast. The dire situation presents increasingly weaker rationale for the government to do a “targeted approach”, should they persist, announcing a separate MCO on specific areas every now and then. This could lead to more public confusion.
It is true that the prime minister has broken his promise not to impose another nationwide MCO but the obviously worsening disease trends in the country must have him with no other choice.
But the government also has promised that the MCO measures would not affect the operation of most economic sectors.
In other words, the disease control measures should only be “compromised” due to people’s livelihood reasons. That also implies that, what could be expected in near future is the return of workplace clusters dominating the categories of daily new clusters, while the current increased number of social clusters, such as those from community, religious and education institutions, would be curbed and reduced due to MCO 3.0. By then, it would make things easier for the government to do contact tracing and handle the local disease transmission.
If we go by the observation of past trends following the MCO 1.0 and 2.0, we should first expect the numbers of daily new cases to actually keep rising for up to two weeks (this mainly reflects the infection and close contact history prior to the MCO), and by the end of fourth week only then could we be more confident that it is on an obvious downtrend.
What concerns the Health Ministry most is the active cases and surveillance case load, as well as the patient burden reaching the critical healthcare capacity in terms of hospital beds, ICU wards and ventilators.
In the past week, the average daily new cases have been exceeding 4000 and mostly affecting the Klang Valley. This acutely demands healthcare resources especially from the dedication of medical frontliners, which are currently working under considerable strain.
With a total of 144 persons having died from Covid-19 in four days (May 12-15), MCO is a justifiable necessity, and it could provide a great relief to the Health Ministry and the medical frontliners in coming weeks.
The public need to have a reasonable expectation that the MCO 3.0 measures would eventually do good to reduce the alarming disease burden and patient load, not really to the level that we could see double-digit low daily new case numbers.
Do not say that the MCO 3.0 will not work, as time will prove that the measures would take effect to reduce the number of new cases and clusters, and hence relieve our healthcare sector and our public health concerns and worries. More importantly, people in the society at large could still keep their jobs and make a living to feed their family.
The only “complaint” I would have is that the government should have acted more decisively on May 4 and announced the nationwide MCO at least one week prior to current enforcement.
Timing is everything when it comes to pandemic response as any delay could have significant consequences for the number of people infected and the death toll.
The writing is on the wall, and the government could have forecasted such an upward trend given that they have all the necessary numbers and analysis to come to such a prediction.
Now a greater wave is upon us to overcome, and together we will.
53rd article for Agora@TMI column, published on The Malaysian Insight, 17 May 2021
面書前言:
無論政黨或政治人物易陷入短線操作的泥沼,族群和宗教議題永遠最易煽動選民情緒,令其他社會議題失焦。民間必須突顯多元聲音,公民組織需經營自身論述,抓住議題核心,不能把民意訴求全寄託於政黨,因為這些訴求不一定反映在政黨政見或符合其政治利益。政改之路絕無捷徑,也不能純粹流於口號,必須重拾社會共識與人民訴求接軌。與其等待政黨為我們鋪陳論述、擘劃宏圖,不如公民社會求自我進步,組織起來引領輿論風向,成為各個議題的主流民意,勾勒出理想的社會願景。
【文/林志翰】
2021年大半年快過去了,疫情一波接一波,國盟上臺超過一年,已祭出緊急狀態四個月,不僅對疫情控制依然沒轍,政治不穩定更是寫照。雖然政治人物口口聲聲心繫疫情與人民福祉,疫情顯然並未減少朝野的政治盤算,甚至去年二月「喜來登政變」後都不曾停止。
今年四月,默迪卡民調中心(Merdeka Center)的最新民調顯示(下圖),目前國人最關心的重大課題是首先經濟(57.0%),其次為疫情(15.7%),才輪到政治(2.4%)。可見,部份人物的所作所為,似乎與社會現實脫節。問及國家是否朝向正確發展方向時,持反對意見的受訪者認為主因是政治不穩定(27%)。
值得注意的是,不同族群的意見差異頗大。國盟上臺後,民調顯示巫裔和華裔受訪者對國家方向看法有著六十百分比的差距(下圖),前者表達大幅度認同,後者則強烈不認同。去年底因第三波疫情處理不當,各族對國家方向的看法進一步下滑(或視為對政府表現的間接評價),但巫裔和華裔的反應仍有近四十個百分比差距。
這一再突顯強烈我國的族群政治格局,國人早已習以為常。雖然2008年五州政府易幟,2018年中央政權輪替,政治改革仍未成氣候,族群政治依然當道。從去年底開始,巫統領袖誓言旦旦,不惜推翻國盟政府重新選舉,並非巧合。行動黨黨選之際爭論「去華」意識、「華沙vs英沙」兩派路線,亦反映該黨選民基礎。
建立在族群、宗教身份的族群政治,依然主導當今政治論述,也是我國社會分歧的根源,不容忽視。少數民族常感受挫,覺得未受公平對待。一個理想的民主常態,足以包容各種不同的社會分歧(social cleavages),容納越多不同意見。當一個人在某一議題抱持主流意見時,不代表對其他議題同樣如此,因此得避免過度主觀,謙卑地尊重少數意見。
哲學家如盧梭(Rousseau)、托克維爾(Tocqueville)、麥迪遜(Madison)皆曾對民主社會的「多數暴政」(tyranny of majority)表達顧慮。如果僅僅以族群身份劃分群己,馬來西亞也有可能發生。不過,目前最明顯的是馬來穆斯林與非馬來人非穆斯林之分。問題是,為何其他社會分歧,如階級、環境正義和單一議題,無法影響選舉結果?
政治競爭逐利,政黨行銷產品
政治學家熊彼特(Joseph Schumpeter)曾經提出民主競爭理想的類比,把選民比作顧客,政黨和政治人物如企業:政治人物爭取選票就好比公司追求盈利,而政黨提出的政策就是其政治產品和服務內容。由此可檢驗我國政黨如何組織、區隔各種吸引選民的「政治產品」。然而,面對議席分配,許多政黨優先考量的卻是選區的種族結構,又說明了什麼?
即使默迪卡民調說明絕大部份國人更在乎經濟和公衛議題,但不代表來屆大選沒有族群本位現象,事實正好相反。如果民調屬實,選民何必在乎候選人是巫裔或穆斯林,只要該黨或聯盟祭出最好的經濟、公衛政策「產品」,就該贏得選票,這樣才符合理性邏輯吧?
但政治現實說明種族政治依然強烈,已成為議席安排的運作邏輯。當出民調詢及國家方向時彰顯的族群認同傾向,其中一個解釋是,身在族群政治的多數派沒看出主流論述的問題。默迪卡民調即印證這點——相較於4.4%華裔和2.9%印裔(分別高出六倍和四倍),只有0.7%巫裔受訪者認為「族群關係」為國內最大問題。
晚近十年國內族群關係日趨兩極化,不少馬來選民被推往更右翼的種族、宗教光譜,嚴重考驗號稱代表多元種族、相對進步的希盟。實際上,希盟垮臺前已嘗試向右轉,不僅無法提升支持度,反而令民調持續走低。馬哈迪甚至向反對簽署反歧視公約(ICERD)者妥協、現身馬來人尊嚴大會,不過民調仍無起色。用政治學的「三角剖分法」(triangulation)來觀察,當政治論述朝某個方向迎合對手的選民,期望從中囊括多數票時,這似乎是個好戰術,但事後證明策略錯誤。
希盟非但沒有爭取到更多右翼保守選票,對手反而大受鼓舞,直接把選民推往更右,讓希盟窮追不捨。如果希盟沒完沒了地向右轉,可能進一步疏遠原來的支持者。奉勸政治領袖勿過度自信,以為吃定選民,除了希盟,他們也可轉投社會主義黨或青年黨。不論是否違反原則立場,政黨不能只靠短線操作吸引選民,反之應亟思革新,打造更有說服力的論述來吸引中間選民。
安華在2008年曾喊出「人民主權」(Ketuanan Rakyat),回應巫統的傳統主張「馬來主權」(Ketuanan Melayu),甚至影響伊斯蘭黨論述的轉型為「全民伊斯蘭黨」(PAS for all)和「福利國」。若堅守原則信念,戮力深耕論述,並為之辯護,套用德國鐵血宰相俾斯麥的話:政治是可能的藝術。不過,短視的政黨或政治人物經常只追逐選票和權力,易受眼前利益牽絆而搖擺。
溝通消除分歧,重塑核心論述
無論政黨或政治人物易陷入短線操作的泥沼,族群和宗教議題永遠最易煽動選民情緒,令其他社會議題失焦。有人認為,多辦跨族群、多元團結活動,可避免社會分化。我認為這並不足夠,如本文前述,如貧窮、環境正義或公共交通往往是日常生活中最令人感同身受的,因此社會分歧不必要突顯族群、宗教。與其強調種族或宗教身份,公民社會應對這些身份認同破除敏感(de-sensitize),將公共討論專注在重大社會議題的主要矛盾。一旦意識到同樣是政策不公的受害者後,就有可能突破族群與宗教界限,因為各種不同的社會分歧而匯聚起來。
因此,民間必須突顯多元聲音,公民組織需經營自身論述,慎防遭政黨政治重施故技,透過煽動族群與宗教議題來轉移焦點。當然,公民社會並非鐵板一塊,也有披著保守、極端旗幟的團體,其影響力不容小覷,推崇進步價值者無法避免與之在公共輿論交鋒。公民組織要能專業問政,抓住議題核心,勿讓有心人企圖以身份政治混淆視聽,也不能把民意訴求全寄託於政黨,因為這些訴求不一定反映在政黨政見或符合其政治利益。當初希盟上臺後,許多承諾跳票,馬哈迪甚至宣稱競選宣言不是聖經,僅供參考。
打破族群舊政治,意味著大多數人已不再為舊政治論述買單。政改之路絕無捷徑,也不能純粹流於口號,必須重拾社會共識與人民訴求接軌。與其等待政黨為我們鋪陳論述、擘劃宏圖,不如公民社會求自我進步,組織起來引領輿論風向,成為各個議題的主流民意,勾勒出理想的社會願景。
官方链接:https://www.8world.com/vodcasts/episode/full/hello-singapore-malaysia-mco3-1476031
1. 马来西亚政府上周二宣布雪兰莪州六县实施行动管制令,隔天宣布吉隆坡、新山等地也落实行管令。六天后,也就是前天,马国政府宣布全马将从今天起实施行管令;并也在昨天宣布彭亨、登嘉楼及霹雳三州共五个地方将从明天到5月26日落实{加强行动管制令}。
从公共卫生的角度,马国这九天的情况改变了多少,导致政府须在短时间内,需要扩大、延长以及收紧原来部分州属长达12天的第三轮行管令?
我们看一看从5月3日到前天5月10日(马来西亚首相)慕尤丁宣布全国实施行管令,就这么短短的一个星期,国家的疫情如活跃病例,增加了6643病例或22巴仙;加护病房ICU增加了82个病人或增幅23巴仙;这些都是医疗资源和政府负担的关键指标。再说,由于马来西亚地广,各州各地的疫情不一样。原先的跨州禁令没有被解除,疫情严重是当地的状况。目前大家关注的是雪隆区、槟城、砂拉越、吉兰丹,疫情严重的城市还有新山和关丹。
上周五马来西亚卫生总监诺希山才透露,加护病房使用率已创历史新高。全国有22间新冠肺炎政府医院的加护病房使用率超过70%,在雪隆一带的有些甚至高达90%。再加上目前每日新增病例靠近4千宗。今天刚出炉的每日确诊数字是4765,单单雪隆区就占据超过一半的病例。这情况若不在近期内改善,那么很快的政府的医疗资源就会接近饱和然后透支,死亡率也会随着增加。这不是政府和民间希望看到的事。
政府其实应该早已看到各地疫情至少短期的未来走势,只是政府在短时间内作出各种不同的宣布,似乎不利于疫情方面的民众沟通,让民众难以适从和感到混淆。或许如果可以重来,政府应该在5月3日第一次宣布MCO的时候,就落实全国性的行管令。
2. 为期27天的全国第三轮行管令,相比前两轮措施相对宽松。第三轮行管令能在多大程度上有效抑制疫情蔓延?
首先,我们需了解,新冠疫情虽然是一个重大的公共卫生课题,同时也牵涉各政策方面和领域如经济。因此行管令的设计必须考虑除了公共卫生以外的重要层面。
回到控制疫情的目的,首先要明白病毒是必须通过人与人近距离接触交流而传播。因此,若政府要立刻为疫情降温避免继续恶化下去,最有效的就是控制人们可以去的地方和范围,还有人们需要出去的理由。如果人们都减少出去,那么在社区里的人与人之间的接触就少了,自然感染机会和病例也随着减少。
是的,第三轮行管令比起第一次的宽松很多,但其实相当接近第二轮。政府一直强调他们要在不影响大部分经济活动的情况下继续实施行管令,这或许会让控制疫情的效应妥协了一些。但我们也应该看到政府已禁止人们堂食,关掉大部分社交场所和禁止社交活动和聚会,同时也限制了人民的活动范围,现在甚至不可跨县。所以,自从4月开始出现的许多社区感染簇群和病例,相信会在行管令实施后的大约一个月后见效,那时我们应该可以看到每日新增病例或会下降至一个卫生部仍可以从容应付的水平。再说,在跨州跨县行为被限制的情况下,疫情是地方和社区的事,政府会比较能掌控当地的疫情。
3. 据报道,槟城治疗冠病患者的加护病床已达到100%的使用率;马国卫生总监{诺希山}昨天也表示,全马目前拥有734个加护病房床位,而进入加护病房的病患已经多达500人。他也指出,未来预料将需要1700个加护病床的床位。
根据你的估算,疫情预计将在接下来的两个星期维持不变或更严重,但应该在两个星期后逐渐减缓。你认为,这两周关键期,马国医疗系统能否负荷?马国政府该如何应对?
根据过往在马来西亚行管令1.0和2.0的经验,每日确诊数字通常会在大约一个月后才能确定往下走的趋势,或许这就是为什么政府直接宣布27天行管令。而通常首两周大多数只会反映出落实行管令前的病毒感染和接触历史。因此这段期间我们应该预料每日确诊数字依然会往上飙升。
确实如你所言,前面两周是关键期。坦白说,我也操心马来西亚的公共医疗系统是否能承担持续送入更多的重症病人。目前的加护病房病人数字已是新高了。如果情况恶化和紧急,看来私人医院必须要扛起更多的社会责任,接受更多重症病人。每条性命都珍贵。