PETALING JAYA: The government’s decision to bar non-essential businesses which are free of Covid-19 while allowing industries with with a high number of cases to continue operating has come under fire.
In a statement, former finance minister Lim Guan Eng said the saving of lives should not come at the expense of businesses that abide by the rules and have very few Covid-19 cases.
“While I agree that the construction sector is an essential service that has to continue operating, there are many cases of Covid-19 among workers in the construction sector.
“Yet, there are many other businesses that have very few or even no Covid-19 cases, but are not allowed to operate just because they are not classified as essential services,” said the DAP secretary-general.
Only businesses listed as essential are allowed to operate during the two-week movement control order (MCO) period which came into effect yesterday.
Lim said that if the government refuses to provide any financial help, small businesses should not be barred from operating.
“Otherwise, the government is responsible for forcing more business closures and job losses.”
His statement echoes that of another DAP leader, Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim, who questioned how the MCO will be effective when most economic sectors are still up and running including industries linked to Covid-19 clusters.
Lim also questioned the need for an emergency to be declared, saying the MCO was sufficient to deal with the rise in Covid-19 cases.
“How does suspending Parliament and arming Muhyiddin with emergency powers help in winning the battle against Covid-19?,” he said, reffering to prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
He also voiced concern that an emergency would allow huge government procurement contracts to be signed without open tenders, leading to possible corruption and abuse of power.
“Further, with Parliament silenced, how can the people’s grievances, especially from the small and medium enterprises affected by the lockdown, be addressed?” he said, adding he has already received many complaints from businesses facing difficulties in getting approvals to operate during the MCO.
Yesterday many traders had also questioned the logic of stopping them from doing business because their goods were “non-essential” while hypermarkets were allowed to sell the same items.