MCO Phase 4 (3rd extension) - holding on for a little while longer

The end of the Movement Control Order (MCO) was in sight, and, unsurprisingly, once again, the finish line has been moved back by another 2 weeks. The 3rd extension brings into effect MCO Phase 4 from 29 April 2020 to 12 May 2020. Yesterday, the Phillipines has also followed suite and extended the lockdown of Manila until 15 May 2020. Quite similar to Singapore's extension of the "circuit breaker" ending from 4 May 2020 to 1 Jun 2020.

As i blogged my thoughts two weeks ago, businesses were already getting restless due to the long stretch of inactivity, with running costs to upkeep it's dormant workforce eating into their reserves. This further extension further aggravates the situation, though many manufacturers (particularly those from the automotive manufacturing industry) have quickly converted their production lines to manufacture face masks, ventilators, and other relevant health equipment. This has a two-fold benefit of both generating income and keeping their workforce productive.

Unfortunately, this latest extension crosses into Ramadan, the fasting month for Muslims which started yesterday (24 April 2020). Life just got one level tougher for our Muslim brothers and sisters, though most of them are very positive and take this as form of divine challenge to strengthen their resolve. In order to ensure social distancing, the usual Pasar Ramadans (food bazaar) are not allowed this year, and the government is working hard to enable and online solution for the traditional food sellers.

Now, this is somewhat of a relief to me and my family. Prior to the announcement, we were thinking of how to handle going back to work when schools were to remain closed (the government would make a separate announcement when schools would resume, 2 weeks ahead of the starting date). This meant that while parents like us go back to work, the kids would have to be at home, as day care and baby sitter functions are not likely to resume. My company had already planned to split the workforce into 2 alternative shifts rotating weekly between working from home and being in the office. This extension buys us some time, though ultimately the day will come when we have to face this issue and find a solution.

Somehow, we have gotten used to the life staying at home, and also working from home (WFH)as well. Can't say the same for others, as I still observe some people taking regular morning and evening walks around my housing estate. I hope that they do not get arrested by the Police, a real risk as there have been many cases in Malaysia daily. Having limited detention space, the authorities also consider a fine of RM1000 for those violating the MCO rules.

Speaking of WFH, just to add to my recent thoughts which you can read over here, as long as the telcos are kind enough to stick to their commitment of daily free data (which is sufficient to carry out teleconferences and file access online), working from home is "manageable". I use this term, as in my own experience the quality of the connection is intermittent - sometimes, impossible to do anything in real-time (like voice and desktop sharing). I'm using the wireless broadband from my phone as a WIFI hotspot. Especially challenging when you present your desktop, and try to speak and scroll around all at the same time. Your own mileage might vary, and if you have a wired connection, I guess you should be luckier than me. I use roughly 1 Gb of data per day, so for a typical 4-week month, that comes up to ~20 Gb. Soyacincau.com has put up a good comparison of the free data + extras offered by the major telcos in Malaysia over here. On the bare minimum, all of them offer 1 Gb of free data per day from 8am to 6pm (enough for doing work during regular office hours). For most of them, either it's automatically given or a one-off request through their app or SMS. Maxis is the most troublesome, as you have to use the app to apply each day after midnight. For those with kids in school, YTL has a good offer of a 40 Gb / month free data plan for 60 days (check it out here). And for those "big kids", Telekom is offering a good deal (RM59/month for unlimited data) to those pursuing tertiary education at selected institutes of higher learning (read more over here).

In any case, with everyone using the Internet, I guess this is somewhat expected. All the more reason for the world to speed up on the adoption of 5G technology (US and Huawei better get their act together and align once this is over). In the mean time, entertainment companies such as Netflix are reducing their bitrates of their streaming services, since the "width of the pipe" is not going to get bigger any time soon. Youtube has also followed this move, though I'm not sure if Europe alone is sufficient since America and Asia are also likely to consume high volumes of data.

As businesses become more restless, people are also becoming increasingly uncomfortable, as it looks like Hari Raya this year will be a anti-climax of a celebration after a month of fasting. The government is also working to restart the economy by gradually relaxing the controls that are in place. For several days now, the number of new confirmed cases in Malaysia has been in dual digit figures, though it is still to early to lift the MCO completely.

Even after this is done, it is certain that we will not go back to the life as before - there will definitely be long-lasting or even permanent changes to our social and travel aspects of life!