PETALING JAYA: Business groups and the union representing government workers are at odds over a proposal for a complete lockdown in light of the record number of Covid-19 cases.
While the business groups say a total shutdown would cause untold harm to the economy, Cuepacs, the organisation representing government employees, has called for a 21-day nationwide lockdown and drastic measures to bring down the number of cases.
The health ministry reported a record high 6,075 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, breaking the previous record of 5,728 on Jan 30.
The EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Eurocham) has also cautioned against a restrictive full lockdown, as it “certainly will hinder Malaysia’s economic recovery and social sustainability” and potentially hinder the country’s ability to attract foreign investment.
Pointing to data by the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre that showed a reduction from over 200 manufacturing clusters involving 28,524 cases in early January to only 31 in May at 1,598 cases, Eurocham chief executive officer Sven Schneider said a more targeted set of SOPs limiting social activities and travel would be more appropriate.
SME Association of Malaysia president Michael Kang said another strict lockdown would only lead to more businesses closing down, while Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Tan Cheng Kiat said another economic shutdown was not a viable option considering the damage done during the first lockdown.
“I strongly urge the government not to implement a full lockdown as many businesses in tourism, event management and private education have long been suffering since the start of the pandemic,” said Kang.
“Should a full lockdown happen, it will kill all of them immediately.”
Kang said a web dialogue with its members on Monday found that more than 40% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) would be in financial difficulty, with the potential loss of more than two million jobs, if another full lockdown were to be implemented.
He said that as it is, 91% of SMEs expect business revenue to be affected during MCO 3.0, with 37.5% of these companies expecting business performance to drop by more than 50%.
He also said 37.7% of SMEs said they would end their business operations should the current lockdown continue.
Tan, meanwhile, said the experience and lessons learnt from the first MCO showed that even though the Covid-19 curve did eventually flatten, the devastation to the economy was “almost irreversible”.
“Unclear ambiguous SOPs and arbitrary enforcement have taken a toll on businesses, which do not have an on-off switch.
“The reality is that Covid-19, and its ever-mutating variants, are already in the community and will be here for a long time. The country cannot continue to forever be drumming up SOPs and shooting regulations from the hip week after week. Uncertainty kills businesses,” he said.
Tan added that cash handouts for businesses that are not allowed to operate would be unsustainable since the government would not have any revenue streams from economic activities to give out the funds.
Both Tan and Kang called on the government to expedite its vaccination drive, with Tan stressing that achieving herd immunity would provide businesses the best chance to return to “normalcy and sustainability”.
Only essential services were allowed to operate during the first MCO between March and May last year. It did reduce the number of cases, but at the cost of an estimated RM2.4 billion in daily business losses.
Cuepacs president Adnan Mat, however, said earlier today that a 21-day nationwide lockdown was needed to bring down the number of cases.
“The 21-day period is the minimum to allow the government to implement the most drastic of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19,” said Adnan.
“If the government continues to use current SOPs to curb the spread of Covid-19, Cuepacs is worried that the country’s health services will be paralysed, which would lead to a serious health emergency in the country.”
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/05/19/lockdown-or-not-business-groups-and-civil-service-at-loggerheads/