NO citizen in their right mind would want to see their motherland being treated as a pariah through the lenses of the global community.
On the same wavelength, no sane citizen would wish to see their beloved land of birth go to the dogs.
In the name of patriotism, all citizens will fight fiercely to defend the country’s integrity if indeed there are ill intents to run the country down.
But what if the humiliation is backed by reliable statistics – something which is proven to be true without reasonable doubt – only that our leaders chose to ignore or prefer to sweep the matter under the carpet?
Will we then still consider this an insult to our motherland or do we simply have to bite the bullet by admitting that the fault does indeed lie with us and that we shall pour in genuine efforts to correct our wrongdoings or to overcome our weaknesses?
Well, the US State Department is poised to downgrade Malaysia to the worst ranking in its closely watched annual report on human trafficking to be released later on Thursday (today Malaysian time), two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The downgrade comes after a string of complaints by rights groups and US authorities over the alleged exploitation of migrant workers in plantations and factories. Just moments ago, FocusM called on Malaysian glove makers to come out in the open to refute the latest findings by a partnership led by UK’s Newcastle University that exploitation of medical glove industry workers has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Reuters, Malaysia is likely to fall to “Tier 3” after spending three years on the “Tier 2 Watchlist” in this year’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.
The US State Department ranks countries in Tier 3 for failing to comply with the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking or make significant efforts to comply. A Tier 3 ranking could affect Malaysia’s access to some US aid (not that we are hard up for such assistance).
If this not embarrassing enough, Malaysia has also been placed 50th out of 50 nations evaluated by The Economist for its global normalcy index, indicating that the country was still mired in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Topping the list was the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong which was ahead of New Zealand and Pakistan that were second and third respectively.
Among other ASEAN countries, Indonesia was ranked the highest at 40th, beating Singapore (43rd), the Philippines (44th), and Vietnam (46th).
The Economist’s “normalcy index” measures behavioural changes forced by the COVID-19 pandemic and tracks countries on eight indicators across the areas of transport and travel, recreation and entertainment, and retail and employment.
It said the countries tracked were the 50 largest economies in the world that accounted for 90% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and contained 76% of all people.
Ironically, The Economist’s index was not the only recent publication that showed Malaysia’s deteriorating COVID-19 situation. Earlier this week, Bloomberg also released its latest COVID-19 Resilience Ranking that showed Malaysia dropping to 51st place out of 53 countries tracked.
Malaysia has spent over a month in Phase One of the National Recovery Plan in which only approved essential services may operate.
Yesterday, the Federal Government also announced the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) for large parts of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor owing to persistently high Covid-10 infections. – July 2, 2021
