Business Group Supports Stricter MCO to Save More Lives
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The Federation of Malaysian Business Associations (FMBA) has declared its support of a stricter movement control order (MCO). The business group stressed the seriousness of the federal government's nationwide Covid-19 containment measures was more critical to saving lives than earning profits.
In what appears to be an unexpected response to the newly announced MCO, FMBA stated that lives must be the priority in the 'lives vs livelihood' debate, especially considering the high number of Covid-19 cases reported daily over the past few weeks.
"We support the government to issue stricter and more complete nationwide lockdowns to ensure we break the chain of infection.
"We are ready to bite the bullet for the sake of the nation and the people.
"Extreme moments like this call for extreme actions. We can rebuild our economy, our financial institutions, our social standing — but we cannot afford to lose our lives," the coalition said in a statement. FMBA represents 262 business associations and chambers of commerce involving 950,000 companies across all sectors.
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Malaysia is currently undergoing the third MCO.
The group's statement comes after Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin declared on Feb 10 that Malaysia would enter the third nationwide MCO necessitated by quickly growing Covid-19 case numbers.
However, FMBA said the tightened restrictions announced must be followed by financial relief programmes, and the government must be responsible for the unprecedented containment measures.
"This unprecedented yielding of position, however, comes with a caveat — the government must stand up and be ready to be counted," it said. FMBA added that the government should use granular data within its agencies to perform data-driven decisions and not on an ad-hoc basis.
On providing safety nets for companies, FMBA said the Malaysian government could provide soft loans and extend the wage subsidy programme to all economic sectors, excluding those in essential services, until the end of 2021.
The group also said a freeze on recurring costs until 2022 would help non-essential industries stay afloat, such as:
- EPF, Socso and, EIS contributions for employees,
- Utility expenditure discounts on electricity, telecommunications and internet.
Source: Malay Mail
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