Dato Richard Wee
KUCHING (June 28): The government should be giving focus on assisting the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and sole proprietorships because they are the largest employers in the country, said Dato Richard Wee.
Wee, who is Sarawak Federation of Chinese Associations (SFCA) president, said with Covid-19 cases in the country showing no sign of reducing, it is understandable and expected that the Movement Control Order (MCO) will be extended.
“I wish to emphasise that the SMEs and the sole proprietorships in the business and economic sector are the ones that are in need of the government’s focus and assistance. I hope the government can hear their call,” he said.
Wee was commenting on Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement yesterday that the government would announce either today or tomorrow a more comprehensive form of assistance for various groups in the country who are affected by Phase One of Movement Control under the National Recovery Plan to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Muhyiddin said he would announce the details of the assistance, including for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Wee said the business community has received the major brunt of the impact during this Covid-19 pandemic, following the decisions taken by the government in consideration of the overall health and safety of the people in the entire nation.
“The current situation has been the most serious challenge ever faced by the economic sector in comparison from all previous economic downturns or financial crisis.
“The problem facing the business community with the current Covid-19 pandemic crisis is that it is long drawn and far reaching, unlike other downturns and crisis, they have shorter cycles,” he added.
Therefore, Wee said financial assistance and aid packages from government, particularly the federal government are very much needed to provide the assistance to particularly the SMEs and the sole proprietorships for them to survive as a group.
“They are the largest employer in the our country so the government must try to help them so that they can continue to provide employment in our country.”
He also hoped that the new financial aid package to be announced will assist those that might have been left out or overlooked in the previous financial aid packages.
Yesterday, Muhyiddin announced that the Phase One of Movement Control under the National Recovery Plan (PPN), which is scheduled to end today, will be extended.
He said phase one has to be extended as the number of Covid-19 cases in the country has not dipped below the threshold value of 4,000 required to move to the next phase.
Following the announcement, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the MCO in Sarawak would be extended like the rest of the country and will continue with the same set of standard operating procedures (SOP) retained.
Uggah, who is also Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, said the reason for this is because the Covid-19 cases in the state are still high.
In its Covid-19 daily update for yesterday, the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) said the decision was reached following a meeting chaired by Uggah.
It however did not indicate for how long the MCO will be extended and when it will end.