Ever since the outbreak of the coronavirus we have witnessed massive changes to society – from business and trade to social interaction – almost every aspect of our lives have been adversely affected in some way, but we persevered. People adapted from the initial panic and moving towards social support, contributing resources to those most in need (front line medical personnel, elderly and socially vulnerable). Yet for all that had happened, one factor is still holding humanity back from doing what needs to be done. That, my friend, is politics.

Every country is made up of three main segments: the economical, social, and political. At this moment, the economic side is taking a huge beating – businesses are closing, many fields of trade are dwindling because of diminishing demand, but with technology and innovation, some businesses that can hold out are the ones that are adapting. On the social side, social distancing puts difficulty in knowing the conditions of individuals, especially those at risk and vulnerable. Worse still is gradual fracturing of some societies from the prejudice, discrimination and blame shaming. However, there not all is lost, as there are those who are willing to reach out and help others in need offering supplies and support. These two segments are constantly sliding between “Make It or Break It”, so at this point, the catalyst that can move things along are the political institutions – governments and special interest organizations that have a say in the deployment of resources to alleviate the burden to these two segments and to give the voice of understanding and reassurance to the public that things are being done about the situation.

Disappointingly, in this game of “make it or break it”, politics decide to choose the latter, at least up until now. So far, what were the involvement of politics?

1. Underestimation and downplaying the initial response by most governments around the world – wasting the crucial moments that can prevent widespread of the virus, and end up literally screwing their population. We clearly see this in the explosion of positive cases in the US and in Europe, where only when positive cases surfaced where measures only begun to take shape but still not implemented;
2. Poor control and use of information – during the course of the pandemic, we saw information directly linked to the virus were initially withheld by authorities and whistleblowers punished, followed by the spread of inaccurate or false information from social media or premature reporting from actual media outlets. Then, when more concrete data and guidelines are available, there selective acceptance or ignorance of information as long as they are in line with “national interests” instead of health and safety. The whole Scenario between PRC and WHO shows this, from when it began in Wuhan, to WHO’s response and downplaying of the situation;
3. In the international scene, we witnessed all kinds of ass-kissing, finger-pointing and blaming of the fault for the pandemic by several major governments instead of focusing efforts to. Why not actively and constructively work together to contain the spread of the virus and focus on finding a vaccine or a cure, you ask? Well no-one wants blood on their hands, especially as time goes on and the aftermath keeps building up to no end. Most unfortunate of all is that some who have useful, constructive data and advice left aside. Taiwan’s, for example, had done a great job in containing the virus right from the beginning, but their advice and information has been largely ignored by WHO and not passed on to other countries.

As a result, society and businesses have to step up even more to fill the gaps, from production of necessary medical equipment and creating vaccines, to distributing said resources and organizing volunteers to visit those in need. What they wanted was firm leadership that can safeguard their well-being; what they got instead was either lack of action or delayed response and it is the public that suffer the consequences. Even more so was the response of agencies such as WHO, whom many countries had relied on for guidance, was not just unclear – it seemed surreal and off from reality. Countries like Italy who had abided to the WHO guidelines got a stick shoved up their asses for it.

As the coronavirus will not be going away anytime soon, it will be great to see the world’s governments get closer to earth and step up to one of their fundamental role – the defense of their citizens and to improve their quality of life, without fear of prejudice or alienation. Yet when you observe the scenes from different media, it is constantly pushing away responsibility or to say how good their efforts are, but not about solid actions. Only if they actively focus on what needs to be done can we actually see the end of the road for this pandemic.