Countless headlines since the coronavirus pandemic took hold have used some variation of the phrase “everything must change” or even “this has changed the world”. One can understand why: From large-scale government interventions, mass lockdowns and halted travels, to food shortages, debilitating unemployment and the sudden need to wear masks and sanitise everything we touch, Covid-19 is perhaps the first event where everyone, regardless of social standing, wealth or physical location, has been affected in some way.

Citizens of nations across the world have not forgotten how the powerful were seen humbled and helpless, while racist tendencies came to the fore and big tech was proved not to be a panacea.

In Asean, the pandemic has had serious impacts. Of the 2.5 million recorded Covid-19 cases, 54,000 people have died. In Malaysia, the case fatality rate is just 0.3%, the third-lowest in Asean, behind Thailand and Singapore. Economic contractions have averaged between 4% and 7%, with some economies plunging nearly 20% across 2020. In Malaysia’s case, the economy contracted 17.1% during 2Q2020.

Despite all of this, Asean’s performance in facing the virus has been lauded by the global community. In comparison with Western nations, infection rates have been low and intra-Asean cooperation maintained a strong presence. In the midst of the pandemic, Asean was a key player in forming the world’s largest trading bloc to date: the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which was signed last November and now accounts for US$26 trillion (RM107 trillion) in economic activity (or 30% of global GDP). This speaks to a new chapter in Asean’s development as it makes new links with countries like China and Japan.

Meanwhile, as vaccines are rolled out across the world, what was meant to be a global public good has become a reminder of how the old order works — the rich and wealthy countries secure their own supplies first, while in other countries it exposed how fragile healthcare systems are and even the non-existence of infrastructure for handling complex logistics associated with the delivery and storage of the vaccine. If you are poor, you are likely going to have to wait months. In Asean, several countries have just begun the vaccine rollout, including Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

At a global level, there has been a great deal of talk about how the world has changed and must change. Yet there has been little reckoning of how we got here and how to reimagine the world based on the lessons learnt. The challenge is whether we are able to look at the world differently and reimagine how Asean societies should be governed and organised economically. This is a big ask, and will only be made possible if we understand how we got into this position. What needs to be avoided is a “business-as-usual in the new normal”.

The global pandemic has shone a light on significant domestic and international weaknesses as well as the fallacy of many conventions. It has exposed some of the myths and misconceptions that status quo used to explain the world. It demonstrated the dangers of outsourcing social obligations to the private sector, piercing the wider belief held in the West that the free market could address social needs to a better degree than the state.

During the international emergency, the benefits of having a strong state were revealed in full, where trusted and competent government institutions were worth more than their weight in gold. In fact, the strongest societies put social interest before individual freedoms, where individuals and organisations acted in pro-social ways in advance of government directives. Many countries in Asean demonstrated this to varying degrees, with Vietnam and Singapore as prime examples, despite having entirely different economic strengths.

The pandemic has accelerated changes that were already happening, fulfilling in five months what might have otherwise taken decades. Thus, not every change needs to be a cause for concern. In fact, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

This is the moment for the next generation to make their mark and grab the opportunity to fix these mistakes. No less a global figure than former US president Barack Obama — seen as a great hope for change when he arrived at the White House and who called himself “one of the old guys” — telling recent American high school graduates that:

“Doing what feels good, what’s convenient, what’s easy — that’s how little kids think. Unfortunately, a lot of so-called grown-ups, including some with fancy titles and important jobs, still think that way — which is why things are so screwed up.”

In another speech, he admitted that “even before the pandemic turned the world upside down, it was already clear that we needed real structural change”.

On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, China President Xi Jinping on a visit to Xi’an Jiaotong University noted that “great historical progress always happens after major disasters”.

What follows are 10 broad areas where the pandemic has revealed the need to challenge our assumptions and understanding so that we change what is clearly no longer suited to our times. These are areas that if we act upon will give meaning to all the proclamations about the need for new thinking and our ability to seize the moment for global cooperation and meaningful change. This is not an exclusive list nor is each issue comprehensively treated. Covid-19 has disrupted and revealed much. They are:

The Global Institute For Tomorrow will be publishing in The Edge an article on each of the above points on a monthly basis, starting with “Transforming the corporate world”. As part of a regional and global system, Asean needs to consider transforming itself in these key areas if it is to learn from the pandemic, identify future opportunities and achieve social change for the better.

Chandran Nair is the founder and CEO of Global Institute for Tomorrow

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