Why did it take Malaysia so long to act? More than 60 people have died–almost all ethnic-Chinese Malaysians–and hundreds have been hospitalized since the disease erupted in October. For months the government played down the problem as Chinese farmers abandoned their sties in panic and left their pigs to starve. The government finally did send in the troops and call in disease-control experts from Australia and Atlanta’s Centers for Disease Control after the disease had spread across the border to Singapore, where one abattoir worker died two weeks ago.
Critics say the government was distracted by its political struggle with a rising opposition movement. Some Malaysian Chinese also believe the Muslim-dominated government failed to act decisively because of prejudice toward pork-eating Chinese, who make up some 30 percent of the population.
Confusion certainly made things worse. At first the government reported that the disease could be transmitted only by mosquitoes, which bite infected pigs and then humans. The government also insisted that cooked pork can’t carry the disease. But then health officials hinted that a second virus could be transmitted through contact with pork. Some Muslims refused to be inoculated against the disease because they thought, falsely, that the vaccines were derived from pig matter.
Farmers complain that the government isn’t compensating the pig-farming industry, worth $400 million a year, for its financial losses, though it paid Muslim cattle farmers in the past after outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease. Health Ministry official Chang Aik Ming says the government will compensate the farmers “after the outbreak settles down.” Meanwhile, the government has launched a lottery to raise funds for the farmers. Since Muslims can’t gamble, Chinese will buy most of the tickets. Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang calls the scheme “demeaning and humiliating” to the Chinese. But at least the government has taken the initiative–and everyone can agree that it’s better late than never.
