Dear Malaysiakinians,

After almost two years of battling a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, we are beginning to come out the other end. New infections are receding, international travel resumes, and yes, traffic jams are back.

Yet, we should not ignore the fact that Malaysia has done poorly compared to other countries. It has the highest number of deaths per capita in the Asean and East Asian regions with 900 deaths per 1 million population, and fourth-worst in Asia after Iran, Lebanon and Jordan – all in the Middle East. And among these four countries, Malaysia is the richest.

Our leaders and our health system have indeed failed us badly. It is tragic that we have a change of government in the midst of the pandemic, not once but twice. And because of our warring politicians, we had to go to the polls in Sabah last year and in the coming weeks, another two state elections - Malacca and Sarawak.

Just like everyone, the pandemic has changed the way we work in Malaysiakini. For an organisation that thrives on teamwork and a ‘everyone together’ culture, we had to quickly adjust ourselves to coordinating our coverage remotely. Key editors meet online every day. Journalists keep tabs on what to be done through messaging apps.

Thankfully, most press conferences and events are live-streamed. But while these measures helped to ensure safety, it is harder for journalists to fact check our leaders. Time and again, the mute button is used to stop difficult questions from certain journalists.

Covid-19, too, has taken a toll on some of us. A few have lost their parents to the disease. Clearly, safety is paramount. We ensure everyone is vaccinated and all SOPs are strictly observed. Take for example, Malaysiakini journalists often share hotel rooms when they are outstation covering an election. However, we decided everyone should now have their own room. This will increase our costs, but it is something we felt we must do to safeguard our journalists.

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Indeed, much has changed since the pre-Covid pandemic. But one thing remains unchanged – Malaysiakini’s mission to hold power to account. We have been doing that without fail over the past 20 years and will continue to do so for many years to come.

Soon, Malaysia will reach the grisly milestone of 30,000 in Covid deaths. There are many questions we should ask. Why did our health system fare so badly? How many died without receiving treatment from our hospitals and why was that? Which states did well and which didn’t? What are the lessons we can learn from this pandemic?

We will be looking at answering these questions in the coming weeks. Do visit Malaysiakini for more information on this and many other topics.

Malaysiakini turns 22 this week. To celebrate our anniversary, we are offering a 22 percent discount on our subscription.

For those of you who have subscribed, thank you. You may want to take advantage of the discount and extend your subscription. You can also ‘gift’ a Malaysiakini subscription to your loved ones, friends or someone whom you think could benefit from the news and views we provide. For those, who have yet to subscribe, please do.

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Take care and stay safe.

Written by Steven Gan, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Malaysiakini.