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SARS threatens countries' political
health
By Phar Kim Beng
HONG
KONG - The atypical pneumonia known as severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) is more than a mysterious
virus that causes the lungs to collapse. In some areas,
it is causing economies to experience a near pulmonary
arrest. The flow of tourists is gradually trickling to a
stop, as is consumer spending.
Some of the
results of SARS have included canceled flights, the
rerouting of air traffic to avoid places afflicted with
SARS, the collective embargo imposed on businessmen
hailing from Hong Kong and China in international
exhibitions, and the insistence on the wearing of
surgical masks by tourists entering Thailand if they
have arrived from Hong Kong or other affected areas.
While no one can precisely identify the mode or
modes through which SARS is transmitted -
whether it is transmited via airborne
droplets, through close physical contact, cockroaches or
rats - the very ambiguity of the disease has forced
people, understandably, to exercise extreme caution.
Hands have to be washed, and rewashed, as urged by the
authorities.
The libraries of major universities
in Hong Kong, for instance, are bleached regularly,
causing an acrid smell to permeate the facilities. The
touching of physical surfaces, even hand-rails and
elevator buttons, is avoided.
Nevertheless,
regardless of how long SARS will last, its ultimate
impact will go beyond dollars and cents to test
governments' credibility. SARS is the litmus test of how
governments understand the importance of global codes of
conduct where transparency and accountability are
increasingly important.
Failure to deal
effectively with SARS would result in a public outcry.
This in turn could inadvertently tap into a whirlpool of
anti-government sentiments. To be sure, comparisons of
how one government has dealt with SARS as compared to
another has already been made, singling out some
governments for praise, others for stern criticism,
notably China. This trend has already started, and is
likely to persist.
People in particular are
liable to ask what actions their governments have taken
in contrast to the steps taken by other countries. Such
a line of questioning, while useful in enhancing a sense
of urgency, would by the same token also force
governments to emulate the initiatives of others,
creating what political scientists call the "sameness
effect". This has already happened in the case of Hong
Kong and Singapore, to the detriment of the former.
Singapore's dexterous management of SARS through
effective quarantine (with threats of legal sanctions),
for instance, has drawn high praise from the public in
Hong Kong. In contrast, when the first outbreak occurred
in early March in Hong Kong, much resistance was still
coming forth from the local authorities. Indeed, there
was no clear-cut acknowledgement of the gravity of the
situation in Hong Kong. As recently as four weeks ago,
Hong Kong was still declared a "safe city", an
announcement now proven untenable as the cases have
increased.
Among Hong Kong's possible mistakes
was the decision to not immediately close schools.
Secretary of Education Arthur Li, together with
Secretary of Health Yeoh Eng-keong, both felt the
measure to temporarily close schools inappropriate. They
argued that it would cause the Hong Kong economy to
experience a partial shutdown.
Nor were
hospitals quarantined. Prince of Wales Hospital, where
the outbreak first brewed then raged by striking the
medical staff one by one. It was only recently that all
schools in Hong Kong were asked to remain closed until
April 21.
The Singapore government, on the other
hand, reacted swiftly when the outbreak first occurred.
Schools were suspended. Areas of the hospitals where
SARS patients were treated were quickly sealed and
segregated from others.
Although Hong Kong is
receiving the brunt of SARS, as it is adjacent to
China's Guangdong province, the area where the viral
outbreak is thought to originate according to World
Health Organization (WHO), the cases in Singapore have
been kept at at little over 100 with a handful of
fatalities. In contrast, Hong Kong is now on the verge
of reaching 1,000 SARS cases, with the health
authorities claiming that the local hospitals would not
be able to handle more than 3,000 cases if the SARS
problem were to persist.
Yet by far the most
serious political impact of SARS remains with countries
where censorship and official denial have always been
the norm, where "transparency" and "accountability"
still remain rhetorical terms with little substance.
The Malaysian Home Ministry has officially
directed all local dailies to "adjust" their reports on
SARS by leaving out any mention of fatalities. This was
to prevent Malaysia from being seen in an adverse light.
Echoes of how North Korea and Myanmar manage their
images resonate. Nor is China impervious to the
temptation to resort to such ploys.
With 6
percent of its gross domestic product coming from
tourist dollars, China has taken the same tack. Although
Beijing has agreed to publish daily information of SARS
at the urging of WHO, there has been no concerted
campaign to inform the public of the severity of the
problem.
Most Chinese remain oblivious to the
infectious nature of SARS, viewing it as a problem that
afflicts mainly the south. Yet this problem obviously
cannot be contained by a government order or media
smokescreen because of its highly contagious nature.
Indeed, SARS cases can now be found in Beijing, Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, Shanxi province, Sichuan
province and Hunan province. According to WHO
statistics, 1,268 of 2,601 cases of SARS worldwide as of
Monday had been reported in China, where at least 53
people had died.
Hence, just as scientists and
microbiologists are now staring intently into their
microscopes to identify the virus, governments in East
Asia and the world, are also subject to keen scrutiny.
If SARS is mishandled further, millions of angry people
may start mobilizing and making demands from their
governments - or worse.
Indeed, SARS is a
ticking sociopolitical time-bomb. Governments that do
not come clean with the cases and fatalities are bound
to reap their public's wrath. Indeed, it should be
remembered that when the Asian financial crisis erupted
in 1997, several government leaders were toppled in
Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. One can't deny that
SARS could potentially have the same deleterious impact
on the governments in the region.
(©2003 Asia
Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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