INTRODUCTION

When history looks back at the Covid-19 pandemic, it will perhaps recall “social distancing” as one of the most important phrases to enter humankind's lexicon. At a time when countries were urging their residents to physically distance themselves from each other, the Internet and social media came to the fore as channels to gain information about the virus and its devastating effects on the economy and healthcare. Citizen sentiments as expressed on social media can predict support (or not) for national policies and happenings in the world (Neri et al. 2012). Thus, it is useful to recall the public discourse during this time as a proxy, imperfect as it may be, for the impact of government policies.

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and the first lockdown in Malaysia, people rallied together on social media in support of each other and healthcare professionals. Hashtags such as #KitaJagaKita (we take care of each other), #DudukRumah (stay home) and #StayHome went viral, with citizens urging solidarity against an invisible enemy—the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Lee 2023). The #KitaJagaKita movement was then co-opted by the government to build support for its policies surrounding movement restrictions and lockdowns. This led to a public backlash in which the hashtag #RakyatJagaRakyat (citizens take care of citizens) went viral in the face of weakening economic opportunities and increasing unemployment (Abdul Halim 2021). In July 2021, as the country entered another round of lockdowns and many peoples’ savings were running short, the hashtag #BenderaPutih (White Flag Movement) went viral, with citizens urging those who needed financial support or food supplies to display white flags on their balconies or homes (BBC 2021). This movement, driven by civil society (primarily individuals), was effective in getting aid to those who needed it. For example, more than twenty households in a fishing village in Kedah found help after putting white flags on their doors (Wang 2021). Tech entrepreneurs in Malaysia—such as Reza Razali, the founder of Terato Tech—also rose to the occasion, creating a web-based platform to connect those who needed aid to those who wanted to donate. The platform featured tens of thousands of requests for help mere weeks after launching; it lives on until today at kitajaga.co, having morphed into an instrument used by the Malaysian Ministry of Finance to disseminate pricing data for specific controlled goods to the public (Malaysiakini 2023).