KUALA LUMPUR, May 19, 2020 - Think City has launched a ‘truly Malaysian’ post-Movement Control Order online survey featuring classic cartoons by renowned artist, Lat. The survey, available in both Malay and English, asks Malaysians important questions about how they are coping with the Covid-19 Crisis, and the impact of the MCO on their ability to access food, on home stresses, family, work and spiritual matters. Results from the survey will help the social purpose organisation understand the effects of the pandemic in order to create solutions that could ease the impact on Malaysian communities.

Think City Managing Director, Hamdan Abdul Majeed, said that the survey was an important baseline to help understand how lockdown and subsequent movement restriction orders have impacted or may affect the daily lives, stress levels, livelihoods and spirits of Malaysians.

“The survey was structured around a hierarchy of needs and how these needs were affected by the MCO. As there may be further restrictions on movement announced, it is crucial to discover how Malaysians are coping, whether they are in need of help, and if so, what kind of help.

“The results will be useful to us in innovating solutions that could potentially help reduce stress or deliver aid to Malaysians in need,” he said.

“We will keep the survey open for one week and report on findings the week after,” added Hamdan.

According to Hamdan, the survey was crafted with a humorous approach with questions and multiple-choice responses, peppered with colloquialisms that Malaysians and some residents of Malaysia would be familiar with. The survey, which can be completed in under 10 minutes, is complemented with classic Lat cartoons, selected by the artist himself.

“We know Malaysians suffer from survey fatigue, so we have come up with an approach that will hopefully encourage people to participate in the survey and perhaps bring a smile to those who undertake it.

“We hope that many more Malaysians will take the survey so that we can accumulate more meaningful and actionable data,” Hamdan added.

Dr. Matt Benson, Think City Programme Director, who oversaw the design of the survey said that the response has been extremely positive with nearly 3000 responses in the first 48 hours.

“While the data so far is not a complete representation of Malaysian society, we have some interesting early results,” Benson said.

According to Benson, preliminary findings suggest that the Covid-19 crisis has affected Malaysians in different ways with significant variations between demographics. Some have been minimally affected, other than perhaps the boredom of being in lockdown and doing less exercise, while others have had an extremely stressful time, with less sleep, trouble paying bills, added housework and anxiety.

“However, it is not all bad. Some Malaysians have done well under the MCO, spending more time with family, learning new skills, sleeping better and being super-motivated. Interestingly, many Malaysians feel more spiritual during this time, as they now have time for reflection,” Benson said.

“Not surprisingly, the thing Malaysians miss most is eating out and being able to ‘lepak’ in shopping malls.”

The Think City MCO survey will be open until Saturday, May 23, 2020. Participants have the chance to win a Lat Comic Book.

The survey can be accessed using the following links:

English link: TCpostMCOsurvey (CLOSED)
Bahasa Malaysia link: TCpostPKPsurvey (CLOSED)