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KUALA LUMPUR: The appointment of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to the helm of the National Recovery Council (NRC) will help ensure the continuity of plans to speed up the recovery of the country post-Covid-19.
Given that Muhyiddin is familiar with the strategies deployed, SME Association of Malaysia president Datuk Michael Kang welcomed the appointment, noting that he would know what needs to be done.
“Now is the time for him to perform,” said Kang.
Over the weekend, it was announced that the former prime minister has been appointed as the NRC chairman, with the position considered to be a minister-level appointment.
Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali said the Cabinet had decided on this on Sept 1 and the appointment has been presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“This appointment was made based on the government’s confidence in Muhyiddin’s capability to spearhead the country’s recovery strategy in order to achieve the best economic impact and improve the people’s livelihood which has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said in a statement on Saturday.
Kang reiterated that the NRC has a good composition of policymakers and industry players, which boosts public-private cooperation in the effort to get Malaysia back on track.
“Previously, a lot of the councils were made up of mainly the government and they don’t necessarily understand what is happening on the ground. So this is a good council and should be continued,” he said.
He also hopes that there would be better cooperation and coordination between the council and the Covid-19 Special Taskforce to further speed up the recovery process.
He urged the government to allow all sectors to open up immediately so that businesses can decide for themselves if they want to continue their operations under the standard operating procedures (SOPs).
“Our survey in August shows that 25% of SMEs are already gone. If the lockdown remains until October, 49% will be gone. So we need to open up the economy and then let the businesses decide on their own whether they want to open or not, by following the SOPs, like self-testing, self-declaration and self-regulation.
“It is now everyone’s duty to make sure we follow the SOPs and not just the government’s duty anymore. Every business needs to change the way they do things, run their operations, follow the new norms, adjust their cost, restructure, or whatever it takes to survive.
“And the government’s role is to speed up vaccination,” he said.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2021/09/07/industry-welcomes-muhyiddins-appointment-to-nrc