Page 5 - PULSE@FASS e-Bulletin 04_2020

FACULTY OPINION PIECE Issue no. 4 | 2020
FACULTY OPINION PIECE

outbreak, including state attempts to contain the
“Crucially, Romeo spread of the disease. In much the same way, it can be

said that the death toll from Covid-19 is higher than that
and Juliet do not die which is regularly reported by governments all over the

world. This is not just because of undiagnosed cases,
of an infection. but also because of seemingly unrelated deaths which

are nonetheless precipitated by the outbreak. From
Rather, they are June to August of this year, WHO conducted a survey
of 130 countries, which revealed grave discrepancies
caught in the ripple between the rising needs for mental health care and

the depleting provisions made for them. In November,
effect of an Japan and South Korea released data which revealed

alarming spikes in the number of deaths from suicide,
outbreak...” which outstripped the loss of lives from the

coronavirus.

Locally, the Befrienders hotline in Sabah reported 1,375
presents itself every time a good student is
calls received from March to October, compared to
automatically channelled into the science stream, or a
1,473 for the entire span of 2019. Approximately 30% of
funding body portions a larger allocation to the
these callers had suicidal tendencies. There is an
sciences. The pandemic has merely brought the issue
undeniable incongruity in the battle to keep one
into sharper focus because the arts appear particularly
person alive in a hospital while another contemplates
frivolous and unimportant amid this struggle between
death by suicide in the supposed safety of their own
death and life. Quite simply, I ask myself why the arts
home.
matter – or if they matter at all.
Enter the arts. Ever since the first quarter of the year,
In my search for an answer, I return to the arts,
when countries began to enforce quarantine and self-
reasoning that even accused criminals are allowed to
isolation, the global arts community has rallied to
testify in court. And Romeo and Juliet, that iconic work
provide welcome diversions from morbid thoughts and
of Shakespeare, icon of the arts, presents a defence.
the banality of blank walls. Award-winning movies and
Up to that moment when the messenger returns in the
final scene of the play, there is no indication
“...data which
whatsoever that plague is encroaching on the city.
Young and old wander the streets, cracking jokes and
revealed alarming
falling into fights. A dinner party is held at Juliet’s
house. There is none of the restriction on movement
spikes in the
and on gatherings that we would expect to find in a
time of plague. Reading the play at the end of 2020, this
number of deaths
makes the sudden intrusion of the plague all the more
poignant. As we gingerly move toward a semblance of
from suicide, which
(new) normalcy while still being on high alert, the play
seems to underscore that life goes on, even with the
outstripped the loss
threat of death in the air. Families still feud. Lovers still
love. Teenage hormones - Juliet is thirteen - rage on.
of lives from the
What is crucial is to find ways to preserve that life and
to minimize the damage as best as we can.
coronavirus.”

Crucially, Romeo and Juliet do not die of an infection.
Rather, they are caught in the ripple effect of an

5 | Pulse @ FASS