Emerging themes in Facebook and Twitter before Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia
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SEARCH Journal of Media and Communication Research
Online ISSN: 2672-7080
© SEARCH Journal 2021
SEARCH 13(1), 2021, 47-60
http://search.taylors.edu.my
Emerging themes in Facebook and
Twitter before Movement Control
Order (MCO) in Malaysia
Khairulnissa A.K.
Institute for Health Behavioural Research, Ministry of Health, Malaysia
Logeswary a/p Krisnan
Institute for Health Behavioural Research, Ministry of Health, Malaysia
Manimaran a/l Krishnan Kaundan
Institute for Health Behavioural Research, Ministry of Health, Malaysia
*Ahlam Abdul Aziz
Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia
ahlam@uitm.edu.my
ABSTRACT
Social media’s potential to directly interact with the public and stakeholders is huge and pertinent,
especially during a health crisis. This research applied the phenomenological approach to explore
themes related to COVID-19 that emerged on Facebook and Twitter before the Movement Control Order
(MCO)(1 January - 17 March 2020). For this purpose, the top 10 influencers/pages from Facebook
and Twitter, including The Ministry of Health’s social account were selected, pooling around 51 million
Malaysian Facebook and Twitter users and engaging around 6,068 mentions. The thematic analysis
reveals that a number of health, politics, economic and policy issues emerged before the Malaysian
government enforced the MCO on 18 March 2020. The themes that emerged varied according to the
situation and the early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings enable us to understand better
public sentiment and the possible different points of view regarding the dissemination of COVID-19
related information on social media platforms. These insights can help government health agencies
to connect effectively with the public about health and relevant preventive measures. Specifically, this
can support public health stakeholders in developing tailored strategies to monitor and prevent the
COVID-19 spread.
Keywords: Facebook, Twitter, social media, COVID-19, before MCO
* Corresponding authorEmerging themes in Facebook and Twitter before
Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia
INTRODUCTION
The COVID-19 pandemic is considered the most critical global health catastrophe of the
century and the greatest challenge faced by mankind since Second World War. It has rapidly
spread worldwide, causing massive health, economic, social, and environmental impacts on
the entire human population. COVID-19 is a very contagious and deadly disease, caused
by a newly discovered coronavirus. When infected, the immune system overreacts, releasing
chemicals called cytokines that make blood vessels leaky. The leaky blood system would
cause insufficient oxygen delivery to vital organs, which in turn may cause fatal organ failure
(Phillips, Schulte, Smith, Roth, & Kleinschmidt, 2021). As the virus is highly contagious,
the outbreak has severely disrupted international travel and the global economy. Almost
all nations are struggling to contain the virus transmission by testing and treating patients,
quarantining suspected persons through contact tracing, restricting large gatherings and
imposing complete or partial movement control order or lockdowns.
According to Li, Xu, Cuomo, Purushothaman, & Mackey (2020), the COVID-19
pandemic began in Wuhan, China, towards the end of 2019. By mid-April, it had spread
rapidly worldwide, with nearly two million detected cases. Surveillance through social
media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook (FB) are used to help map its distribution,
as well as understand public knowledge, attitudes of people affected, and their critical
behaviours in the early stages of the infection. It was reported by Conner & Norman
(2006) that different human behaviours influence health and the factors determining these
behaviours has become a key research area in epidemiology.
In recent years, the rapid development of technologies have made products and
services more economical. For instance, the advent of the low-cost carrier has made
travelling more affordable. With increased speed and reach in human mobility, the risks of
exposure, contracting or spreading infectious diseases become amplified. The likelihood
of an infectious disease that originated in one country to spread rapidly to other countries
increases. COVID-19 is a clear illustration of this; from the first reported case in Wuhan,
China in late December 2019 (Rothan & Byrareddy, 2020), it managed to spread to the
whole world within a matter of months, with no signs of slowing down or stopping.
Another example is severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, whereby
first detected in China, it spread to at least 37 countries in a matter of weeks. When a
pandemic hits, clinical studies covering all aspects of the pandemic are conducted to find a
vaccine that can protect people from the disease. Additionally, communication studies are
also conducted to understand how public health practitioners can communicate better to
the public, about the disease.
This study offers unique communication insights of infectious disease outbreaks
by examining social media engagement. The purpose of this study is to obtain an in-depth
understanding of public views and opinions on the first wave of COVID-19 and movement
control order as well as outline potential implications for health literacy. Specifically, the
study looks at how netizens conversed about COVID-19 on Facebook and Twitter, and
the issues that emerged before the first phase of the movement control order (MCO) in
Malaysia.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Social media landscape in today’s society
Conventionally, the diffusion of knowledge on a certain subject takes place through established
channels such as seminars, workshops, fliers, online messages and word of mouth (Dearing
48SEARCH 13(1), 2021
& Cox, 2018; Elias, 2019). However, with the advent of COVID-19 and the need for social
distancing to contain the spread of the virus, seminars, meetings and workshops were banned
and replaced with online mediums. Surprisingly, social media platforms such as Facebook and
Twitter appear to be better options compared to seminars, workshops and word of mouth,
with their lower costs, real-time discussions and broader spectrum of population segments that
can be reached.
Microblogging platforms like Facebook and Twitter can disseminate short
messages, photos/images, and video clips to direct contacts and other potential interested
users worldwide. Thus, many have made use of these platforms to communicate with one
another on subjects of mutual interest. As such, communication through the social media
suggests a new way of spreading information effectively and influencing public sentiments
(Wadawadagi & Pagi, 2020).
One research area of infectious diseases that has recently gained popularity is
the dissemination of public health information through the social media. In general, the
advent of new communication media has altered the way public agencies and the public
respond in times of crisis. For instance, social media allows rapid dissemination of
information in extreme situations, even before the responsible agencies can control or
handle the situation. Further, social media’s potential to directly interact with the public
and stakeholders is huge and pertinent, especially during a health crisis. Today, doctors
and patients take to online platforms such as blogs, social media, and websites to convey
their opinions or information on health matters (Afyouni, Fetit, & Arvanitis, 2015).
Nowadays, social networking has become quotidian, with the number of users
increasing from year to year. It is undeniable that social media has altered the media
landscape, transforming how information is consumed and circulated. The nature of social
media allows wide-scale interaction and easier access for many others while disregarding
physical boundaries (Shklovski, Palen, & Sutton, 2008).
Taking the Arab Spring of 2011 and Obama’s political campaign as examples,
social media can strongly influence society in coming forward and taking action. Social
media has also changed the way people seek, acquire and share information. It has also
changed the characteristics and speed of healthcare interaction between individuals and
healthcare organisations, thus enabling health services to become more informal and
personal (Moorhead et al., 2013).
Real-time feedback is possible through social media platforms, making it more
engaging for healthcare practitioners and the public. Additionally, the dual nature of
social media stemming from its interactive functionality enables mass messaging and direct
engagement (Heldman, Schindelar, & Weaver III, 2013). In this regard, the widespread
public engagement function enables dynamic and wide-ranging applications in the
healthcare field. Some research have shown that online communication can improve the
understanding of specific health matters (Wozney, Turner, Rose-Davis, & McGrath, 2019).
Other studies have proven that social media can successfully encourage health improvement
and behaviour change (Webb, Joseph, Yardley, & Michie, 2010).
It is undeniable that social media has become an important tool for connecting
people, building communities, voicing opinions, marketing and advertising and various
other functions. Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Communications (MCMC)
(2020) reported that Malaysians spend anywhere from 5 to 12 hours a day on the internet,
and 93% of their online activities were on social media platforms. The top four social
platforms used in Malaysia from 2018 to 2020 were Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger and
WeChat (MCMC, 2020) (Figure 1).
49Emerging themes in Facebook and Twitter before
Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia
2018 2020
97.3%
100.0% 91.7%
90.0% 80.6%
80.0%
70.0% 63.1%
57.0%
60.0%
48.3%
50.0%
37.1%
40.0% 31.1%
23.8% 24.1%
30.0%
20.0% 13.3%
10.8%
10.0% 0.7% 0.2%
0.0%
Figure 1. Malaysia internet survey (2020)
As a result, social media nowadays plays an ever-increasing important role in
disease outbreak communication. It provides an easy-to-access and easy-to-read medium
that helps health authorities circulate immediate updates and alerts to many people at a
low cost. In this way, public health authorities can address public concerns and reduce
public panic when there is a crisis (Lwin, Lu, Sheldenkar, & Schulz, 2018).
Social media for communicating health information
Healthcare agencies are increasingly using social media to communicate about disease
outbreaks and responses because its interactive features facilitates dialogues, eases
communication, and disseminates information in real-time. Social media also supports
the rapid dissemination of information to diverse users because information can be shared
and re-shared amongst many social media users worldwide (Wang, Xu, Saxton, & Singhal,
2019; Lwin et al., 2018).
Empirical evidence from previous studies demonstrate that social media is
important for epidemiological purposes in detecting outbreaks/cases and understanding
public attitudes and behaviours in dealing with health crises in real-time. The acquired real-
time data can support the construction of effective public health messages (Abd-Alrazaq,
Alhuwail, Househ, Hai, & Shah, 2020). This “infoveillance” approach has been used to
address several sensitive public health issues such as mental health and substance abuse as
well as help monitor infectious disease outbreaks (Li et al., 2020). According to Eysenbach
(2011), infoveillance is defined as the longitudinal tracking of infodemiology metrics for
surveillance and trend analysis.
Disease outbreaks are increasingly becoming more frequent and complex worldwide
due to various ecological, environmental, and socio-economic factors. Technical approaches,
such as sentimental analysis, may help detect outbreaks and how people respond to them
(Brownstein, Freifeld, & Madoff, 2009). Further, rapid responses through improved
surveillance is important in combating emerging infectious diseases such as COVID-19.
50SEARCH 13(1), 2021
Further, this improved surveillance may enable nowcasting and predict disease trends
(Biggerstaff et al., 2016; Burkom, Babin, & Blaze, 2016). In response to the ongoing
COVID-19 crisis, a sentiment analysis was conducted by analysing several social media
platforms to gauge the public’s opinion and perception on the issue.
METHODOLOGY
The data mining method was used to collect data from two social media platforms: Facebook
and Twitter for the time period between 1 January and 17 March 2020. The collection and
collation of data was done using the Atlas.ti Ver 9 AI-driven software. The focus was on
exploring themes related to COVID-19 that emerged from the online engagement between
netizens. The research design consisted of five main steps: identifying conversations related
to COVID-19 on the selected Facebook pages and Twitter; organising the data; finding and
organising the ideas and concepts (especially to look for meanings for coding and categorising
the ideas and concepts); building overarching themes; and finally, ensuring the reliability
and validity of the data analysis and in the findings through peer examination to improve
the trustworthiness, authenticity and credibility of the data (Creswell, 2009). The research
design is presented in Figure 2.
Identifying and Finding &
collecting data organising Ensuring
Organising data Building themes reliability &
from Facebook ideas &
and Twitter concepts validity
Figure 2. Research design
Ethical consideration
The ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Medical Research Ethics
Committee (MREC) Ministry of Health (NMRR ID: NMRR-20-619-54484). In addition,
this study was funded by NIH grant.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A total of 170,000 social media engagement posts collected from 1 January until 17 March
2020 were subjected to a qualitative content analysis to identify emerging themes. For
analysis purposes, we selected the top 10 influencers/page from Facebook and Twitter,
including the Ministry of Health’s Facebook page, pooling around 51 million Malaysian’s
Facebook and Twitter followers, and engaging around 6,068 mentions. The content analysis
focused on the identification of themes related to COVID-19.
Emerging themes before MCO
The thematic analysis revealed that before the Malaysian government implemented the
MCO on 18 March 2020, the issues that emerged were related to health, politics and
economy. Figure 1 presents the issues that have been broken down into themes and sub-
themes.
51Emerging themes in Facebook and Twitter before
Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia
• T
he sincerity of the • ood supply rapidly
F
government and MOH in running out in stores
Politics Economy
dealing with COVID-19 (panic buying)
•
Motivation to help staff
• Complete patient
Health Policy • anning tourists from
B
information
China from entering
• Statistics of coronavirus
Malaysia
• Lack of medical supply
• Transmission
Figure 3. COVID-19 related themes that emerged before MCO
A. Health
A1. Statistic
The social media conversation on COVID-19 escalated rapidly at the beginning of January
2020. The virus which was first detected in China generated tremendous attention and
interest. Naturally, the public requested more health statistics regarding COVID-19 from
the Ministry of Health (MOH) such as number of patients recovered and number of
deaths, and generally, an overview of the global situation.
“Terima kasih Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia... You are updating from
time to time all the accurate information and statistics related Covid-19..
[Thank you, Ministry of Health Malaysia... You are updating from time
to time all the accurate information and statistics related to Covid-19...]”
(MOH FB, 2020)
“Sbulan akn dtg, br dpt tgk kesan lps quarantine ni..tu pun kalo bnyk yg ikot
btol2..sbb mostly bnyk yg x dgr ckp, blek kmpg rmai2, serbu supermarket
ramai2..so effect smua ni d jangka msih menaik sehingga ke bln 4..yg
kebanyakkan statistic blaku mgu ni mmg kesan dr sebulan yg lps d mane kte
kat malaysia msih x mgamal kn lgkah bjaga2 tu smua..so keep pray..n wish at
the end of april, all the statistic will gve us some hope to fight against Covid
19..[We could only see the result of this quarantine only after a month....
and given that the public follows the SOP... there are still many people
who don’t follow the rules, going back to their hometown, swarming the
supermarkets.... all of this will result in the increase of Covid-19 cases
in the next four months.... as we know that what is shown in this week’s
statistic were the effect of last month negligence whereby Malaysian did not
practice ample precautions towards Covid-19.... so keep praying and wish
at the end of April, all the statistic will show us some hope to fight against
Covid-19….]” (HarianMetro FB page, 2020)
“Tahniah rata rata komen memperlihat kefahaman terhadap situasi
jangkitan kes COVID-19 di Malaysia, kebanyakannya rajin analisa sendiri
52SEARCH 13(1), 2021
kes, jika sebelum ni tgk angka kes baru naik semua dh keluar komen panik.
[Congratulation!! The average comment indicates increased public awareness
of Covid-19 infection cases in Malaysia. Most of the public nowadays have
due diligence towards latest news on Covid-19… before that, if there were
the increase of positive Covid-19 cases, there would be panic and outrage
among the public..]” (Malaysiakini FB page, 2020)
During the early stages of the pandemic, public understanding of this disease
was very much at its infancy, resulting in much uncertainty and worry. To diminish the
uncertainty, Malaysian social media users requested for regular updates on statistics
related to COVID-19. According to Kuang (2018), uncertainty is a “psychological state of
‘not knowing’” and seeking reassurance due to worry is a usual reaction for most people
(Andrews & Hobbs, 2010). Studies have shown that most people will behave in an extreme
manner to attain certainty and to gain clarity regarding consequences in ambiguous
circumstances. This behaviour involves over-preparation, repetitive questioning and
lengthy internet searches (Freeston, Tiplady, Mawn, Bottesi, & Thwaites, 2020).
A2. Details of patient travel history
Social media users were concerned about COVID-19 patients’ travel history or movement
as they wanted to use the travel history to avoid travelling to the same places. The situation
became increasingly acute after an outbreak was detected at a Tabligh gathering on 9
March, which involved 14,500 participants across the country that raised concerns and
fear amongst the public. With rising anxiety about the spread of the virus, people were
fearful of being infected.
The Protection Motivation theory states that a person would be motivated to avoid
a possible negative threat and protect themselves if they believe the behaviour is effective
(Rogers, 1975). Therefore, many believed it was safest to avoid all locations previously
visited by COVID-19 patients (Sutton, 2015).
“Yes, please declare a more specific location of COVID-19 infection to create
more public awareness.” (MOH FB page, 2020)
“Be honest, please reveal your travel history, close contact & necessary info
required by the medical staffs. Don’t be selfish & risk the life of the frontliners!
They are not only treating you but still a lot of others & they have families
too!” (TheStarOnline FB page, 2020)
“It makes quarantining those with a high-risk travel history all the more
important.” (Malaysiakini (English) FB page, 2020)
Studies have shown that people prefer to pursue information that eliminates
confusion and helps make informed choices with regard to a health problem (Procopio &
Procopio, 2007; So, 2013). Declaring travel history, especially visits to affected countries
during the early phase of the pandemic, is vital as a prevention and control measure (Wei
et al., 2020). Thus, tracking the travel history of members of the public, especially those
who travelled to Wuhan, was an important step to contain COVID-19 in the initial stage;
however, many were found to have withheld this vital information once local clusters were
detected.
53Emerging themes in Facebook and Twitter before
Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia
A3. Diminishing supply of face masks and hand sanitisers
Even though there were no mandatory rules for wearing a mask at the time, people began
to wear masks in public. Hand sanitisers were also in huge demand, and the price went up
due to insufficient supplies.
According to the Health Belief Model, the perceived susceptibility construct is built
on the assumption that the greater the perceived danger, the greater the probability that an
individual will participate in behaviours that will reduce the risk (Hayden, 2015). In other
words, if people feel that they are at risk of contracting a disease, they would be more likely
to behave in a way that prevents it, in this case, wearing a face mask and using hand sanitiser.
““Bila nak edar mask ekk.. Mask takde sanitizer takde. At least edar laa di
klinik kesihatan dan hospital yg handle kes2. Benda ni dah pecah, merebak
dah. Kami bukan suka2 coronapalatau mcm ada yg perli2 tu. Kami bersuara
sbb nyawa dan keselamatan kami dan warga lain. Takde ke wujudkan task
force untuk ambil tindakan golongan ambil untung atas angin simpan stok dan
naikkan harga mask? Btw, boleh advise superior kot untuk execute lockdown
mcm jepun? [When do you want to distribute masks to the public??? No
mask… No sanitiser… At least distribute some to the health clinics and
hospitals that handle Covid-19 cases. It’s widespread already... We speak
out for our lives and safety of other citizens... Why don’t you create a task
force to take action against those who take advantage to raise the mask to
an unreasonable price? By the way, you could also advise your superior to
execute lockdown like in Japan?]” (MOH FB page, 2020)
“How we want to make it mandatory, when there’s a mask shortage everywhere??!!”
(Malaysiakini (English) FB page, 2020)
“Priority should be given to the frontliners and those who continue to work
during the MCO. Citizens who are staying at home during this MCO don’t
need it. Maybe the government can distribute some of it to supermarkets and
convenient stores. So not necessarily everyone will get it.”
(AstroAwani FB page, 2020)
A4. Transmission
A few posts discussed the transmission of COVID-19, specifically its transmission mode,
and relevant prevention measures. Some examples of this discussion include:
“Hmm..tu la kena suruh cuci tangan kerap, lagi² bila dkt luar tu,bila tersentuh
mana2.mmg melekat kat kulit dlu,bukan terus masuk lubang hidung.. [Hmm..
have to wash our hands repeatedly, especially when we’re going outside and
touching here and there… it’s probably stuck to our skin first, not directly
into our nostrils.]” (HarianMetro FB page, 2020)
“Bila bersin, jarak 1m ni nk mencegah bknnya 100% boleh avoid, paling
penting pakai mask dan jangan sentuh muka, kecuali lepas cuci tangan. [When
sneezing, please make sure a 1-meter distance from others. This distance is for
precautions and prevention because we can’t avoid it 100%, most importantly
wear a mask and do not touch your face, except after washing your hands]”
(MOH FB page, 2020)
54SEARCH 13(1), 2021
“Thank you for sharing. This video is so valuable to educate people. More
people need to see this. People should know the basic knowledge on how
the virus spread and not afraid of COVID-19 patient.” (TheStarOnline FB
page, 2020)
Information on COVID-19’s transmission mode should be made public so that
everyone can use it to assess their situation and act accordingly. According to Shultz et al.
(2016), personal risk management is often hindered by the lack of knowledge. Furthermore,
with the right information, everyone can protect themselves. A study by Tandoc & Lee
(2020) on Singaporean youths revealed that they manage uncertainties by engaging in
information seeking and information scanning.
A5. Motivational support for frontliners
Meanwhile, a positive sub-theme which is support for the hard work and dedication of
doctors and nurses on the frontline in battling COVID-19 was also visibly present on
the social media. Influencers actively played their part in highlighting the frontliners’
contribution through viral content, especially on 26 February when the government
brought back 66 Malaysians from Wuhan, the biggest mission at the time. The operation
went viral on social media with more than 20 thousand “likes”, 1,600 comments and 1,300
sharing. All of which were wishing the best to those involved in the operation.
“A big shout out to all the frontliners!!! Thank you” Help fight COVID-19.”
(LITEdotmy FB page, 2020)
“Terima kasih semua abg2 akak2 tentara polis..dokter nurse foodpanda grab
dan semua sekali yang berkorban untuk negara serta PM kite yg baik hati.
Alhamdulilah Yallah.. Amin.. Sebakkk oiii… [Thank you all to the police,
army, doctors, nurses, food panda, grab and to all others for their sacrifices
to our beloved country…. as well as for our kind-hearted Prime Minister...
Alhamdulilah. Ya Allah .. Amin... It touches my heart!!...]”
(Siakapkeli FB page, 2020)
“Awesome work, MODA and all the designers and workers that stepped in for
the PPE. God bless you all. Let us all support Malaysian brands and businesses.
So proud of you all.” (TheStarOnline FB page, 2020)
Giving motivational support to frontliners is a good gesture by the netizens as the
support will boost their spirit in conducting their duties tirelessly (Tandoc & Lee, 2020).
B. Economy
B1. Panic buying
The panic buying issue began trending on social media, especially when rumours started
circulating about a potential lockdown. Panic buying occurred in major cities across the
country as the public panicked that supplies would run out. According to a study, four
factors that affect panic buying are awareness, fear of the unknown, coping behaviour and
social psychological influences (Yuen, Wang, Ma, & Li, 2020).
“The concern is to have food at the right time in the right place #KekalTenang”
(AstroAwani FB page, 2020)
55Emerging themes in Facebook and Twitter before
Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia
“I did not expect people to be this panicked. They were clearing out some
shelves. I’ve never seen anything like this.” (NSTOnline FB page, 2020)
“Diharapkan rakyat Malaysia terus bersabar & tidak Panic Buying! Patuhi
dan berbelanjalah dengan selamat tanpa tanpa membawa keluarga. [We hope
Malaysians continue to be patient & do not Panic Buying! Please follow the
SOP and shop safely without bringing the whole family.]”
(OhMediaNetwork FB page, 2020)
This finding is supported by data from the Panic Index conducted in 54 countries
from 1 January till 30 April 2020, which showed widespread consumer panic in most
countries, mainly during the month of March (Keane & Neal, 2021). The same study
explained that the panic was due to the rapid spread of the virus and government policies,
such as movement restriction. Behavioural studies on pandemic have demonstrated that an
outbreak of influenza or a pandemic will cause significant disturbances to development,
expenditure and consumer purchasing (Jung, Park, Hong, & Hyun, 2016).
C. Policy
C1. Banning tourists from China from entering Malaysia
The pandemic also evoked fear amongst netizens. Many voiced their concern over the
ongoing coronavirus outbreak on social media and urged a new policy to ban travellers
from China from entering the country.
“Knp masih ada org dr wuhan kat malaysia ? Patut dah lama hantar balik
, malaysia perlu berhentikan kemasukkan pelancung dr china dgn segera
sebelum keadaan jadi lebih buruk… [Why are there still people from Wuhan
in Malaysia?? They should be sent back a long time ago!!! Malaysia needs
to stop admitting tourists from China immediately before the situation gets
worse.]” (Bernama FB page, 2020)
“A lot of things to learn from Sabah & Sarawak.... they made it so simple, the
rakyat-comes first....” NO CHINESE TOURIST. CHINESE TOURIST GO
BACK” (MalayMail FB page, 2020)
“The Malaysian government should prevent Chinese people from entering the
country for the last six month ago!!!!” (ChinaPress FB page, 2020)
The call to ban travellers from China was driven by the fact that the virus was
discovered in Wuhan, China. The Malaysian public was anxious that the number of
people infected may increase significantly if travellers from China were still allowed to
enter Malaysia. With regard to this, travel restrictions were found to be highly effective
for containing the COVID-19 epidemic in Australia during the epidemic peak in China
(Costantino, Heslop, & MacIntyre, 2020). Another study revealed that more and more
Chinese travellers were barred by other countries as panic intensified. The travel ban also
affected China’s tourism industry as many incoming flights were cancelled (Akbulaev &
Aliyev, 2020).
56SEARCH 13(1), 2021
D. Politics
D1. Political turmoil
Politics was another pertinent issue that emerged during the early stage of the pandemic.
Many netizens argued that the Malaysian government should focus on containing the
pandemic even if Malaysia had been thrown into political turmoil when the then Prime
Minister resigned from his post.
““5 hari dah xbentuk2 kabinet lagi...tak habis berunding lagi ke?? kementerian
kesihatan paling penting buat masa ni. [It’s been five days since the cabinet
was formed ... haven’t finished negotiating yet ?? the most important thing,
for the time being, is the Ministry of Health.]” (BHOnline FB page, 2020)
“What else would you like us to do apart from getting on with our precious
lives? We don’t know whether we’d still be around here tomorrow looking at
the current epidemic happening around the world right now. Our Agung has
made a decision, and it’s now entirely up to them to show us whether they can
perform or not. Otherwise, they will all eventually have to go.”
(TheStarOnline FB page, 2020)
“Kekalkan post berkaitan kesihatan/pengumuman berkaitan pandemik dan
kesihatan sahaja. Page KKM tak perlu dicemari isu politik. [Keep only
pandemics and health-related posts/announcements. The MOH page should
remain politically neutral.]” (MOH FB page, 2020)
The political crisis began on 23 February 2020 with rumours about a power
transition even as the number of Covid-19 cases continued to rise around the world. The
social media was inundated with many posts by netizens expressing their frustration and
dissatisfaction over the escalating Malaysian political upheaval which culminated in the
resignation of the former Prime Minister (Abdul Latif & Ying, 2020). Many also demanded
a fast resolution to resolve the crisis.
CONCLUSION
A major issue in the COVID-19 pandemic was addressing the public’s growing sense of
fear especially when not much was known about the disease in the early stages. The findings
of the thematic study on social media engagement during the early phase of the pandemic
can provide relevant authorities with a better understanding of Malaysians specifically, on
their knowledge, attitude, and perception related to the pandemic. The emerging themes
which were related to health, policy, economy, and politics highlight how every component
in society was affected during the health crisis. The insights from real-time data provide
a guide to the relevant authorities in planning not only health education strategies and
messages for the public, but closely monitoring economic impacts as well as resolving
any arising political dissatisfaction to gain back trust from the public. Furthermore, as
social media engagement enables real-time communication and dissemination of data, the
relevant agencies can also address the issue of mis/disinformation to reduce unnecessary
uncertainties during the early stage of the pandemic.
57Emerging themes in Facebook and Twitter before
Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia
Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
License (CC-BY 4.0) which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided
the original author(s) and the source are credited.
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59Emerging themes in Facebook and Twitter before
Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia
Khairulnissa Abdul Kadir
is a Health Education Officer (Research) at the Institute for Health Behavioural
Research (IHBR), National Institute of Health Malaysia. Received her Bachelor’s
Degree in Mass Communication in 2000 from International Islamic University Malaysia
before joining IHBR as a Health Education Officer in 2002. Her specialisation is online
media for health communication.
Logeswary Krisnan
is a Health Education Officer (Research) at the Institute for Health Behavioural
Research, National Institute of Health Malaysia. Received her Bachelor’s Degree in
Exercise Physiology in 2016 from Universiti Malaya. Her specialisation is online media
for health communication and health physiology.
Manimaran Krishnan (Dr)
is at present the Director of Institute for Health Behavioural Research (IHBR), National
Institute of Health, Ministry of Health, Malaysia. Previously, he was appointed as the
Chief Executive Officer for Malaysia Health Promotion Board (MySihat). Dr. Manimaran
joined MOH as a Health Education Officer in 1991, and his first posting was at the
Institute for Public Health, followed by Division of Disease Control, Hospital Serdang
and IHBR. He completed his PhD in Health Psychology & Communication (UKM)
and B. Jurisprudence Hons (Law) (UM). Apart from his vast experience in the field
of health education and health promotion for nearly 30 years, he is also a strong
advocate for community empowerment and behavioural change initiatives for the
Malaysian population.
Ahlam Abdul Aziz (Dr)
is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, UiTM
Shah Alam. Completed her doctoral studies in 2015 from Universiti Putra Malaysia
in communication technology in organization before joining UiTM as a lecturer in
2004. Her specialisation is organisational communication, new media technology in
organisation and leadership communication.
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