KUALA LUMPUR – The Federation of Malaysian Business Associations (FMBA) has told Putrajaya that its members are willing to “bite the bullet” and support a more complete total lockdown but demanded the government to implement steps to help private enterprises.
In a letter to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the group requested that the government implement another moratorium, provide financial support, and wage subsidy programmes and grant statutory exemptions.
It also wants utility bills to be subsidised, and proactive and inclusive actions on standard operating procedures.
The umbrella group – which says it is representing 260 business associations with a membership of more than 950,000 companies and a workforce of over seven million people – stressed that they understand the dilemma faced by the administration to save lives while ensuring the economy does not tank.
However, they also pointed out that the government should consider that the nationwide lockdown might not have the desired outcome while the country’s economy is allowed to go into a freefall even as its health resources will be exhausted – leaving Malaysia in a similar precarious situation like India.
“While we are trying our best in these unprecedented times – but we are exhausted. While we empathise with your precarious position in balancing the live vs livelihood pendulum, we also seek you to sympathise with the one million businesses and economically vulnerable 2.8 million Malaysians comprising the self-employed, micro-SMEs, and small entrepreneurs (who) will be the most affected by the reduction in income and the uncertainties that Covid has put us all in place.”
The group warned that the nation is headed for an economic turmoil that’s going to shake the root of its entrepreneurship structure without a playbook to stem the disease’s evolution and speedy vaccination rollout that significantly expands herd immunity.
Co-signed by its Protem chairman Datuk Abdul Malik Abdullah and advisors Tan Sri Richard Koh and Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin, the letter to Muhyiddin proposed six immediate steps to mitigate the economic risks:
It ended by saying that the association reiterates its support for the government and people to weather this storm together. “We are all in different boats, but in the same storm. We are in this together as a nation.” – The Vibes, May 17, 2021
