We asked M’sians if they would still wear masks now that it’s not required. 57% said yes.

ICYMI, KJ came out to announce earlier today that from the 1st of May onwards we would be allowed to go maskless when we’re outdoors, but would still need to put on a mask when in an enclosed space. You can read more about the new SOPs for mask-wearing in an article we wrote here.

But despite the new ruling, we were wondering how Malaysians actually feel about continuing to wear masks even though they technically don’t really have to anymore? So, we ran this little poll before the SOP announcement amongst our readers to figure out where they stood on the matter; would they still want to continue wearing a face mask even if they didn’t have to, and for how long? Here’s what they said…

57% of our readers said YES to continued mask-wearing.

Out of the 274 people who participated in our poll, we were pretty surprised to see that a majority, around 157 of them (57.3%), wanted to continue wearing their masks even if they didn’t have to… which is pretty interesting considering that our health ministry removed the mask mandate.

Meanwhile, around 30.3% (83 people) of our respondents answered that they would only put on a mask if they were in a crowded place, which turned out to be pretty spot on since that’s basically the basis of the new ruling for where our face masks should be worn.

So, from what we’re able to see, most of the respondents probably wouldn’t have an issue with continuing to wear masks outdoors, since they were planning to wear them anyway. Too bad for the remaining 12.4% though. This then brings up the question of why the KKM made the decision that they made, since it doesn’t seem like many Malaysians are objecting the wearing of masks.

Additionally, for those who wanted to continue, we asked them how long they’d want to wear a mask for… to which we found that a large amount of respondents would want to wait at least until our daily cases drop to double or single-digits, or for C-19 disappear completely before choosing to stop wearing a face mask. Which makes sense, cause less C-19 infected people means a lower risk of getting C-19 yourself, after all.

But even though the main result was kind of expected, we were pretty surprised to see that almost 15% of respondents were planning to follow in Japan’s footsteps by wearing a face mask for the rest of their lives. And apparently, there’s a pretty good reason for that…

Some wanted to continue wearing masks because it’s become a part of their wardrobe.

At the end of our little questionnaire we left a small open-ended question for our respondents to let us know why they chose to continue wearing or stop wearing masks. And to our (pleasant) surprise, we had a lot of responses- not just on the poll, but even on our Facebook post itself!

And as seen in the screenshots, it seems like one of the biggest reasons why Malaysians would want to continue wearing masks is because of their own personal safety and the safety of others who might not have been able to get cucuk-ed. But it isn’t just that.

There were also a few respondents who got a little bit… uh… creative with their answers, saying that mask-wearing gives them a chance at anonymity, or that wearing a mask has become a fashion staple as it supposedly “makes them look more attractive“… especially since wearing a mask = not needing to shave or put makeup on the lower half of your face.

Meanwhile, the ones who weren’t a fan of the mask wearing seem to share a common belief that masks just don’t work. Or in some other responses, that they’ve already been cucuk-ed and boosted, or kena C-19 in the past… hence they felt that they didn’t need to wear a mask. Hoo boy.

Well, to each their own. ‘Cause at the end of the day…

Masked up or Maskless? It’s all up to you.

Unlike how it currently is where you’re required to have a mask on at all times, on the 1st of May you’ll have a choice to go outside without a mask on… as long as it’s not in an enclosed area. But regardless of whether or not it’s being mandated, it’s great to see that many Malaysians are still opting to be responsible and wear a mask…. even if it’s just to hide their face.

Although, we did also come across this Facebook comment that showed us the true victim of this abolished mandate…