KUALA LUMPUR: Small and Medium Enterprises Association Malaysia (Samenta) has urged the government to make the Hotspot Identification by Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) system more transparent to the public.
In a statement today, Samenta Central chairman Datuk William Ng said the HIDE system needed to be clear to the public that being listed on the system did not necessarily mean that the business premise was more dangerous than any other.
"It doesn't help that the government has ordered that all businesses listed in HIDE to close down since Sunday for cleaning and sanitisation.
"This unnecessarily stigmatises these businesses, and it will take weeks, perhaps months, for these businesses to recover following the negative publicity," he said.
He said as HIDE tracked visitors based on MySejahtera, even if a visitor found to be high-risk and rejected by the business owner from patronising the outlet, the person would be listed to have visited the outlet.
Similarly, Ng added that someone who briefly entered a mall parking, without being in contact with any other person, could also be flagged as high risk, adding to the numbers that could lead to a business being listed on HIDE without it being any riskier than its neighbours.
"We re-iterate our support for HIDE as it is an important tool for business owners to immediately take additional precautions and sanitisation process to protect their employees and customers.
"However, we need to de-stigmatise the process as it does not help in our economic recovery, nor in keeping the Covid-19 numbers down.
"Just as we urge the government to clarify the purpose of HIDE, we also urge all SMEs including our members, to continue following all SOPs to help Malaysia keep our infection rate manageable," he added.
Source: https://www.nst.com.my/business/2021/05/689468/government-should-make-hide-more-transparent-samenta