KUALA LUMPUR – Following the National Security Council’s (NSC) announcement that applications for all approved 17 essential services sectors can be submitted via the Covid-19 Intelligent Management System (CIMS) 3.0 under the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti), the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) is hopeful the “chaos” that befell employers trying to get approval to travel for work during the full-scale nationwide lockdown will ease.
MEF president Datuk Syed Hussain Syed Husman said based on the earlier decentralised administrative procedure, many employers were stressed, confused and faced extreme hardship in their attempts to contact the various ministries to obtain such approval.
“MEF thanks Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the NSC for looking into employers’ concerns by swiftly responding to our distress calls and for positively considering our proposal to reinstate the one-stop centre under Miti that was implemented during MCO 1.0,” said Syed Hussain.
“It is understood that the NSC’s announcement was still subject to earlier validation by the relevant ministries and no SOP had been issued thus far. It is also not clear how Miti would coordinate the CIMS 3.0 with all the relevant ministries that supervise the 17 essential sectors.
“MEF hopes that the issues on approval to operate and the approval for employees to travel will be resolved as soon as possible.
“We also hope the government will make the procedure for application very clear and simple because, with only 20% of staff allowed to be at the workplace, the situation for businesses is even worse.
“Any delay in obtaining approval for travel would further delay the operations and create losses to all parties, and businesses cannot afford to bear any more losses.
“We must safeguard whatever businesses there are by performing and delivering on time and not be caught in an administration cycle.
“Employers should not be made to deal with additional stress during this time of national crisis,” he added. – The Vibes, May 31, 2021
