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Sat, 2021-05-29 14:50
KUALA LUMPUR: With Malaysia’s announcement of a new 14-day nationwide lockdown from June 1, business owners complained on Saturday of being left in the lurch and asked for the government’s assistance to “help them stay afloat.”
On Friday, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that the decision to impose a “total lockdown” was to address mounting pressure on the nation’s health care system after coronavirus infections surged to record levels in the past few weeks and new variants of the virus were detected in Malaysia.
“The decision was made after taking into consideration the current infection rates at over 8,000 daily cases and more than 70,000 active cases,” Muhyiddin said in a statement.
On Saturday, Malaysia registered 9,020 cases, its highest infection rate since the outbreak was first reported in March last year.
Muhyiddin said that the stricter lockdown measures would apply to all social and economic areas, and only essential services and economic sectors would remain in operation, as listed by the national security council.
However, despite thousands of new infections being reported daily, the Malaysian Restaurant and Bistro Owners Association (PPRB) said that the lockdown from June 1 to 14 would be “the final nail in the coffin for us.”
“Many are still reeling from the effects of the first lockdown implemented in March 2020 as most cannot survive on delivery or takeaway alone,” William Lee, PPRB president, told Arab News.
With more than 500 businesses registered with the PPRB, more than 60 percent “are not operating at the moment.”
“The ones that are open struggle to make enough to pay for overhead costs . . . we have seen no assistance targeted at this group of operators and their staff,” Lee said.
He added that the PPRB had sought the government’s assistance to pressurise financial institutions into providing a moratorium to assist affected businesses.
“Another assistance we are asking for is to extend the salary subsidy program, provide some rental relief and also defer some of the tax submissions such as the sales and services tax or corporate tax payments,” Lee said.
He explained that authorities holding weekly meetings to discuss the implementation of new standard operating procedures “was not enough.”
“In theory, this is a very good process, but in reality the government does not have its finger on the pulse of the nation, so what they can do better is keep engagement with various trade associations,” he said.
“They do not engage with the various trade associations till the situation is dire, and even when they do, there isn’t enough time to gather feedback from all parties and put it together into an actionable plan that will assist us as fast as possible,” Lee said.
During the lockdown period, non-essential businesses will not be allowed to operate, and all Malaysians are required to self-quarantine at home. Restaurants, however, can extend takeaway services.
Restaurateur Shankar Santiram told Arab News that by providing stimulus packages, the government could help restaurant owners “keep their workforce in order.”
“A lot of people are saying that restaurant owners are selfish, and I’m saying that is absolutely not true at all,” Shankar said.
He explained that operators were on the “brink of bankruptcy, with many unable to pay their staff salaries.”
“They are breaking into their savings or borrowing money from friends and family to keep the business afloat,” he said.
Meanwhile, public health experts said that the latest lockdown showed that the government “has admitted to its current lockdown measures being inadequate to halt the rising infections.”
“They (the government) had to come out with even stricter measures like the nationwide total lockdown — just days ago the prime minister did a live television interview telling people why the government couldn’t afford nationwide total lockdown and insisted on a targeted approach,” Lim Chee Han, an expert from the Third World Network, told Arab News.
He added that the risk of new infections rising to 10,000 daily was “imminent,” especially if the government did not impose a lockdown.
“It would only take 10 days for the cases to rise if we take the Rt value at 1.14 reported two days ago as a constant,” he said.
Rt or R-naught represents the average number of people infected by one infectious individual.
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