Irene Chang
SIBU (May 15): Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang has called on the state government to provide a wage subsidy programme of at least 50 per cent for at least six months to assist qualified small and medium enterprises (SMEs) employers in the state to stay afloat while paying their employees’ salaries.
Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang said this state wage subsidy programme should be on top of the current Federal Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP 3.0), which was not sufficient for the SMEs to stay afloat amidst the Covid-19 pandemic while maintaining their employees.
She said the state government should also grant a 30 per cent rental subsidy to qualified SME tenants of commercial, industrial and office proprieties for at least six months to help them cope with rental costs.
As for other economic sectors such as spa, gyms, reflexologies, pubs and karaoke, which still were not allowed to resume operations, she said a rental subsidy of at least 70 per cent should be provided for at least six months, or at least until they are allowed to reopen.
“I urge the state government to urgently help our small businesses and to stimulate our state economy as the longer the economic impact from Covid-19 continues, the more risk these sectors would face.
“This in turn would lead to the collapse of our state economy as SMEs are the backbone of our economy,” she said in a statement today.
Chang said the Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) 5.0 package which was rolled out in February this year to help the SMEs to overcome the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, does not address the main concerns of these SMEs particularly paying the salaries of their employees, premise rentals and business loans.
Since the onset of the pandemic last year, and especially since the beginning of this year, she said a lot of local SMEs have closed down and many employees have lost their jobs.
“Many employers have to let go of their rented premises as they cannot keep up with their rentals.
“For those who are still desperately hanging on, they are on the verge of closing down as they lack the sufficient cash reserves and find it increasingly difficult to survive without any government support,” she said.
Adding on, Chang said the state government should understand the difficulties the SMEs were going through as this was their main consideration when they did not follow the nationwide Movement Control Order (MCO) as imposed in the peninsula, while allowing most businesses to open subject to stringent standard operating procedures (SOP).
Although it is only right that the SOP should be imposed and followed strictly, Chang said the opening of the businesses would not be sufficient for the SMEs to continue staying afloat without any immediate financial assistance.
“Some businesses, especially those from the non-essential services like the spas, reflexology centres, pubs and karaoke have been closed since last year, except for short intermittent openings.
These businesses need immediate funds to stay open and to continue maintaining their workforce to save their livelihood as the nature of their business also cannot allow them to embrace digitalisation to sustain their business,” she said.