Thermal scanners at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
Nicolas Asfouri | AFP | Getty Images
Political uncertainties in several countries in Southeast Asia are coming to the fore again, which could threaten their recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, an expert said on Friday.
Some of these uncertainties took a backseat when authorities in the region issued decrees of varying degrees to slow the spread of the coronavirus. While these measures are gradually being lifted and domestic politicians restored, the stability of some governments is again in question, said Simon Tay, chairman of the think tank Singapore Institute of International Affairs.
“There is a concern that without political will and unity some countries will be much worse off. It is not a health concern. This is really economic, governance and so on,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
Tay, who is also a professor of law at the National University of Singapore, cited Malaysia as an example of a country where politics could limit his recovery. The country had a change of government shortly before it entered a lockdown in March – following defects of the former governing coalition that resulted in its collapse.
But the stability and legitimacy of the new government have come into question, with several media outlets reporting that a quick election could soon be called for the current governing coalition to seek a new mandate.
“There are a lot of different policies on small issues, but it adds to a big question mark about the political stability and the political attention to dealing with both economic and other (problems),” Tay said.
“And besides Thailand – big economy for our region – they have the same problem: the economic team is gone, another is being introduced. But the cohesion of the economy is very real, very now,” he added.
“There is a concern that without political will and unity some countries will become much smaller.
Several Thai ministers resigned last month, including the country’s key economic architects. Over time, new ministers were appointed, but the change came at a time when the tourist-dependent Thai economy was being defeated by the coronavirus pandemic, which halted global travel.
Malaysia and Thailand are among Southeast Asian countries that have reported a decline in daily new Covid-19 cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Covid-19 is the official name of coronavirus disease.
Still, some economists warned that most countries in the region still find it challenging to grow their economies given the global uncertainties – despite their success in containing the outbreak.
Earlier this week, Nomura’s chief economist Euben Paracuelles said the region could experience at least a “U-shape” recovery. A U-shape recovery typically means that an economy spends a long time at the bottom of a recession before slowly returning.
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