Kenapa kerajaan begitu lembab dan lambat mengumumkan pakej komprehensif bagi menyelamatkan PKS ketika krisis pandemik Covid-19, berbanding negara-negara lain seperti United Kingdom, Jerman, Perancis, Denmark, Australia dan Singapura?
Kongres Kesatuan Sekerja Malaysia (MTUC) dalam satu kenyataan semalam menggesa Putrajaya supaya menjadikan kepentingan untuk memelihara kebajikan pekerja sebagai salah satu daripada syarat wajib untuk perusahaan kecil dan sederhana (PKS) mendapatkan bantuan daripada kerajaan.
Kenyataan itu turut membangkitkan persoalan; mengapa kerajaan begitu lembab dan lambat untuk mengumumkan pakej komprehensif bagi menyelamatkan PKS yang terkesan dari segi ekonomi ekoran pandemik Covid-19, berbanding negara-negara lain seperti United Kingdom, Jerman, Perancis, Denmark, Australia dan Singapura?
Dalam keadaan ekonomi mengalami kelembapan ekoran perintah kawalan pergerakan (PKP), kegagalan kerajaan untuk bertindak pantas dalam menangani masalah ekonomi dan perubatan akan dilihat sebagai suatu tindakan yang tidak bertanggungjawab serta cuai.
Di Amerika Syarikat, tindakan tidak bertanggungjawab serta cuai dalam menangani Covid-19 seperti ini dipertanggungjawab terhadap Presidennya, Donald Trump, di mana beliau dikatakan akan berdepan prosiding pendakwaan (impeachment).
Di United Kingdom, kerajaannya telah mengumumkan tiga pakej rangsangan ekonomi sejak 11 Mac lalu, antaranya:
1. 11 Mac; pakej rangsangan khas Covid-19 berjumlah £30 bilion; termasuk bantuan kebajikan dan sokongan perniagaan, perubahan bayaran cuti sakit dan bantuan tempatan; termasuk £7 bilion untuk perniagaan dan keluarga serta £5 bilion untuk National Health Service (NHS);
2. 17 Mac, langkah-langkah termasuk menyuntik dana berjumlah £330 bilion – bersamaan dengan 15% KDNK UK – dalam bentuk jaminan pinjaman perniagaan dan £20 bilion untuk sokongan perniagaan serta pemberian dana untuk membantu firma yang mengalami masalah aliran tunai sepanjang tempoh krisis ini, termasuk perniagaan runcit dan perhotelan;
3. Pada 20 Mac, menyuntik sejumlah £78 bilion untuk pelbagai program termasuk mengeluarkan geran kepada syarikat-syarikat bagi menampung sehingga 80% gaji pekerja dengan syarat syarikat tidak membuang pekerja (sehingga £2,500 sebulan setiap seorang); dan meningkatkan kredit cukai bersih untuk individu yang dibuang kerja iaitu sebanyak £1,000 setahun, bagi membantu lebih daripada empat juta isi rumah yang terjejas di seluruh negara, dalam satu pakej bernilai £7 bilion.
Ahli Parlimen DAP yang juga mantan Timbalan Menteri Perdagangan Antarabangsa dan Industri, Dr Ong Kian Ming telah menyenaraikan sepuluh contoh PKS di Malaysia yang amat memerlukan bantuan daripada kerajaan.
Saya justeru menggesa Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin supaya tidak berlengah lagi dan segera mengumumkan pakej penyelamatan ekonomi terutamanya untuk PKS.
Perdana Menteri juga perlu menggunakan peluang daripada pakej baharu ini untuk menunjukkan keprihatinan kerajaan terhadap nasib golongan yang paling terjejas teruk akibat arahan PKP, termasuk mereka yang kehilangan sumber rezeki kerana terbatas pergerakkannya.
Pandemik Covid-19 bukanlah semata-mata tentang krisis kesihatan – ia juga tentang krisis ekonomi, justeru pembuat dasar harus menyesuaikan pendekatan mereka setiap hari selaras dengan kesan yang dibawa pandemik ini terhadap tahap kesihatan dan ekonomi di negara kita.
Menteri Kewangan, Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz pada Sabtu lalu, berkata pakej bantuan untuk PKS sedang dalam penelitian pihak kerajaan.
Tengku Zafrul dan pembuat dasar dalam kerajaan seharusnya menggunakan pakai semangat “Bertindak Pantas dan Lakukan Apa Sahaja” bagi menangani masalah ekonomi akibat pandemik Covid-19.
Inilah sebabnya mengapa Malaysia harus mengambil iktibar daripada amalan terbaik dari negara-negara lain, baik dari segi ekonomi mahupun kesihatan, dalam melawan dan membendung pandemik Covid-19, supaya Malaysia terhindar daripada mimpi ngeri yang dialami negara-negara lain.
Kita tidak mahu jadi seperti Itali, Sepanyol, Perancis, apatah lagi United Kingdom dan Amerika Syarikat di mana pandemik Covid-19 masih bermaharajalela dan semakin memuncak.
Di Sepanyol, rakyatnya mampu menarik nafas lega kerana negara itu mencatatkan angka kematian terendah iaitu sebanyak 674 dalam tempoh sembilan hari.
Di Itali pula, negara itu mencatatkan angka kematian terendah iaitu seramai 525 orang pada Ahad lalu.
Itali, Sepanyol dan Perancis mungkin telah meratakan lengkungan pandemik Covid-19, bagaimanapun ini semua bergantung kepada situasi pada dua atau tiga hari akan datang.
Namun berlainan pula di United Kingdom dan Amerika Syarikat. Pandemik Covid-19 masih menggila dan kes jangkitan meningkat dengan mendadak di kedua-dua negara terbabit.
Perdana Menteri United Kingdom, Boris Johnson turut dimasukkan ke hospital untuk pemeriksaan, selepas 10 hari disahkan positif Covid-19. Sementara di negara jirannya, Ketua Pakar Bedah Amerika Syarikat, Jerome Adam memberi amaran bahawa minggu hadapan akan berlaku apa yang digambarkannya sebagai detik “Pearl Harbour” — “Detik paling sukar bagi kebanyakan rakyat Amerika”.
2,403 rakyat Amerika telah terkorban dalam serangan Pearl Harbour. Sehingga kini, virus Covid-19 telah meragut empat kali ganda nyawa rakyat Amerika Syarikat berbanding jumlah korban perang tersebut – dengan jumlah kematian dicatatkan sebanyak 9,557, mengalami peningkatan sebanyak 1,106 sejak 24 jam yang lalu.
Malaysia harus bertindak pantas dan melakukan “apa sahaja” bagi memenangi perang terhadap Covid-19 dan seterusnya memenangani peperangan dalam memulihkan semula ekonomi yang terjejas teruk, namun kita harus mengikuti segala perkembangan pandemik Covid-19 di seluruh dunia kerana ekonomi global juga turut ikut terjejas.
Senario global menunjukkan kes Covid-19 sudah mencapai 1,272,737 kes sementara angka kematian sudah mencapai 69,491.
Data 12 negara yang mencatatkan kes jangkitan Covid-19 tertinggi di dunia (termasuk jumlah serta peratus kematian) dan Malaysia adalah seperti berikut:
Amerika Syarikat: 334,232 kes; 9,557 kematian (2.86%)
Sepanyol: 131,646 kes; 12,641 kematian (9.6%)
Itali: 128,948 kes; 15,887 kematian (12.3%)
Jerman: 100,123 kes; 1,584 kematian (1.58%)
Perancis: 92,839 kes; 8,078 kematian (8.7%)
China: 81,669 kes; 3,329 kematian (4.07%)
Iran: 58,226 kes; 3,603 kematian (6.2%)
UK: 47,806 kes; 4,934 kematian (10.3%)
Turki: 27,069 kes; 574 kematian (2.1%)
Switzerland: 21,100 kes; 715 kematian (3.4%)
Belgium: 19,691 kes; 1,447 kematian (7.35%)
Belanda: 17,851 kes; 1,766 kematian (9.9%)
Malaysia: 3,662 kes; 61 kematian (1.66%)
Kerajaan harus belajar daripada kejayaan Korea Selatan dalam memerangi Covid-19.
Seperti yang ditegaskan Menteri Luar Korea Selatan, Kang Kyung-wha, adalah penting untuk kerajaan mendapatkan kepercayaan rakyat dan bersikap telus dengan orang awam.
Seperti yang dijelaskan Kang:
“Kunci kejayaan kami adalah bersikap telus dengan orang awam – berkongsi secara terperinci bagaimana virus ini berkembang, bagaimana ia tersebar dan apa yang kerajaan lakukan untuk menanganinya.”
Muhyiddin perlu menjelaskan mengapa kerajaan masih berlengah untuk mengadakan persidangan khas Parlimen, meskipun menerusi saluran maya, bagi membahaskan mengenai pandemik Covid-19.
(Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP, Lim Kit Siang pada Isnin, 6 April 2020)
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The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) statement yesterday calling on Putrajaya to ensure that workers’ interests are protected as part of a pivotal condition for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to obtain government assistance raises the question why the government is so slow and tardy in presenting a comprehensive package to rescue SMEs in the Covid-19 pandemic economics when compared to other countries like United Kingdom, Germany, France, Denmark, Australia and Singapore?
It could be argued that in these extraordinary times of the Covid-19 pandemic when there is a virtual lock-down of economic activities, the failure to quickly and nimbly address medical and economic problems is a form of irresponsibility and negligence, which is why there is talk of impeachment proceedings against the US President Donald Trump for his mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis in his country.
The United Kingdom government has already presented three economic stimulus packages since March 11, with the government announcing:
· on March 11 a specific Covid-19 fiscal stimulus totaling £30 billion, including welfare and business support, sick-pay changes and local assistance; including £7 billion for businesses and families and £5bn for the National Health Service (NHS);
· on March 17, measures which included a £330 billion – equivalent to 15% of UK GDP – in business loan guarantees and £20 billion of business rates support and grant funding to help the most-affected firms manage their cash-flow through this period, such as retail and hotel businesses;
· on March 20, £78 billion measures which included a program to issue grants to companies covering up to 80% of worker’s salaries if companies keep them on payrolls rather than lay them off (up to £2,500 per month per person); and increase in safety net tax credits for people who are out of work by £1,000 a year, to help more than four million vulnerable households across the country, in a package worth £7 billion.
DAP Member of Parliament and former Deputy Minister for International Trade and Industry, Dr. Ong Kian Meng has listed ten examples of Malaysian SMEs crying for help.
I call on the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, to stop procrastination in announcing an economic rescue package focussing on the SMEs.
The Prime Minister should use the opportunity of the new package to be more sensitive of the crisis the MCO has created to vulnerable groups, especially those who become unemployed when they stay at home.
The Covid-19 pandemic is not just a health crisis – it is an existential economic crisis and policy makers must adjust their approach on a daily basis as the increasing severity of the health pandemic and damage to the economy unfolds.
The Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said on Saturday that help for SMEs is on the way.
Tengku Zafrul and other policy-makers in government should be motivated by the “Act Fast and Do Whatever It Takes” spirit to address the economic problems created by the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is why Malaysia must learn from the best practices – both public health and economic – of other countries in combating the invisible global war of the Covid-19 pandemic, so that Malaysia can avoid the nightmares of other countries.
We should not be in the position like Italy, Spain and France, let alone United Kingdom and United States where Covid-19 pandemic is raging on and yet to reach their peak.
In Spain, there is relief in the country that its death toll in the past 24 hours had only risen by 674 to 12,418 because it is recorded the lowest number of fatalities in in nine days!
In Italy, the lowest daily COVID-19 death toll of 525 deaths for more than two weeks was registered on Sunday allowing the Italian authorities to start looking ahead to a second phase of the battle against the new coronavirus once the lock-down imposed almost a month ago is eventually eased.
Italy, Spain and France may have reached a plateau in their Covid-19 epidemiological curves, which would begin to descend, although this is subject to confirmation in the next few days.
But the situation in the United Kingdom and the United States are quite different, as the Covid-19 pandemic is raging with exponential growth in these two countries.
On the one hand, the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson had been admitted to hospital for tests, ten days after testing positive for Covid-19 and on the other, the United States Surgeon General Jerome Adam had warned that next week was going to be the “Pearl Harbour” moment – “the hardest moment for many Americans in their entire lives”.
In the Pearl Harbour attacks, 2,403 Americans died. So far almost four times that many lives have been lost to the virus – with the total death toll in the United States standing on 9,557, which increased by 1,106 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Malaysia must act fast and do “whatever it takes” to first win the war against Covid-19 and subsequently to win the war to restore the devastated economy, but we must follow developments of the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide as the global economy is also devastated.
The global total of Covid-19 cases have reached 1,272,737 cases while the global total of Covid-19 deaths have reached 69,491 cases.
Data for the top 12 countries with most number of Covid-19 cases (which also contain the 12 top countries for Covid-19 deaths) and Malaysia are as follows:
United States: 334,232 cases; 9,557 deaths (2.86%)
Spain: 131,646 cases; 12,641 deaths (9.6%)
Italy: 128,948 cases; 15,887 deaths (12.3%)
Germany: 100,123 cases; 1,584 deaths (1.58%)
France: 92,839 cases; 8,078 deaths (8.7%)
China: 81,669 cases; 3,329 deaths (4.07%)
Iran: 58,226 cases; 3,603 deaths (6.2%)
UK: 47,806 cases; 4,934 deaths (10.3%)
Turkey: 27,069 cases; 574 deaths (2.1%)
Switzerland: 21,100 cases; 715 deaths (3.4%)
Belgium: 19,691 cases; 1,447 deaths (7.35%)
Netherlands: 17,851 cases; 1,766 deaths (9.9%)
Malaysia: 3,662 cases; 61 deaths (1.66%)
The government must always bear in mind the lesson of South Korea’s success in the war against Covid-19.
As the South Korean Foreign Minister, Kang Kyung-wha has explained it, vitally important is that the government must be open and secure the trust of the people.
As Kang had explained:
“The key to our success has been absolute transparency with the public – sharing every detail of how this virus is evolving, how it is spreading and what the government is doing about it, warts and all.”
Muhyiddin should explain why the government is holding back from holding an emergency meeting of Parliament, even a virtual one, to debate the Covid-16 pandemic.
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang on Monday, 6th April 2020)