As most states hold back, FMM urges to support Putrajaya's reopening of economy

CORONAVIRUS | The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has urged all states to support Putrajaya's decision to reopen the economy tomorrow, ahead of the expiry of the movement control order on May 12, as the Covid-19 situation improves.

This comes as most states have decided to defer the reopening of the economy while others scaled back on Putrajaya's announcement.

"The FFM urges all state governments to support the announcement by the prime minister on May 1 on the decision of the federal government to allow most of the economic sector and business activities to resume operations on May 4 under the conditional movement control order (MCO).

"It is important that business operations in all states resume concurrently as there are inter-linkages between states and stopping work in certain states would lead to major disruptions in the supply chain of goods and services, and at the same time also impact the livelihood of the rakyat.

"It may also cause problems to the movement of workers who have to travel interstate for work," FMM president Soh Thian Lai (above) said in a statement.

Soh said the FMM believed Putrajaya's decision is based on sound data and feedback from the Health Ministry and National Security Council.

On Friday, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the reopening of the country's economy after more than a month in partial lockdown. The MCO began on March 18.

The relaxation will also see people being allowed to conduct recreational activities and eateries may accept dine-in customers, but with social distancing measures.

Sabah, Sarawak, Penang, Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah have announced that they won't reopen the economy tomorrow.

Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan have indicated that they will reopen the economy but scaled back on Putrajaya's relaxation of rules such as allowing dine-ins at restaurants.

At the time of writing, on Terengganu has announced that it will follow the guidelines set out by the federal government.

Perlis, Malacca and Johor have not made an official announcement at the time of writing.

Soh stressed that even if businesses begin operations, they will abide by the strict standard operating procedure (SOP) on social distancing, sanitisation and health checks.

"FMM continues to impress upon the industry to recognise the ‘new normal’ in the way business will be conducted, especially on the need to strictly continue observing the Covid-19 precautionary measures stipulated in the SOP for operations.

"In addition, we urge manufacturers to implement Business Continuity Planning including expanding flexible work arrangements, maintaining social distancing and other policies that allow people to work remotely and safely as this will help to implement the SOPs effectively.

"Considering the importance of balancing public health with economic sustainability and the people’s well-being, FMM hopes that the state governments can play their part to cooperate with the federal government to facilitate the restart of the economy from May 4 onwards," he said. - Mkini