YOURSAY | Little time for businesses to prepare for conditional MCO

YOURSAY | ‘I simply find it amazing in Azmin’s wordy statement, not once did he mention Health Ministry.’

Azmin warns of possible legal action if state gov’ts refuse to reopen economies

Anonymous_3b6c1f0c: International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali, your decision to open up the economy with the conditional MCO (CMCO) is purely based on monetary and not health considerations.

If it was the latter, why did Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a further two-week extension previously only to then announced on May 1 that it was cut short by one week? It would seem that decision-making in government is haphazard.

If you wanted to open up, a longer advance notice should have been given for preparations and the number of new cases should have fallen to single digits. News of rising numbers in Singapore and reports of new infections in Japan and Germany after the easing of restrictions have raised concern amongst the state governments and public.

The SOPs (standard operating procedures) have been issued late to make any meaningful preparations easy for opening. The government has failed to consult the public, a majority of whom are concerned about the supposed flattened curve which does not seem to be flattened enough.

Perikatan Nasional (PN) should be more efficient in decision-making and more transparent before accusing state governments of non-cooperation.

Odysseus: "This decision was taken with the utmost care, caution and responsibility supported by data and findings by the Finance Ministry, International Trade and Industry Ministry, Bank Negara and Khazanah Nasional Berhad," said the minister in charge of the economic cluster, Azmin Ali.

The above statement is exactly why the public is doubtful on the decision to ease MCO to allow businesses to operate. There appears to be no input nor involvement from the Health Ministry. If a business closes down or goes bankrupt, it can reopen again. But a life is lost, it’s gone forever.

Just Wondering: I simply find it amazing in Azmin’s wordy statement, not once did he mention the Health Ministry. As far as the rakyat is concerned, we want the Health Ministry to take the lead in making decisions involving our health.

Anonymous_1588417805668.84331588417577698: Azmin said: “This was based on a May 3 federal gazette that gazetted the conditional MCO under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.”

He also said: “Hence, the state governments are urged to co-operate in executing the federal government’s decision to regenerate the economy.”

Isn’t the main aim of gazetting the CMCO supposed to be to prevent and control infectious diseases? So shouldn’t decisions be made based on the advice of the Health Ministry and experts from the infectious disease field?

But it looks like decisions are made more to pander to the whims and fancies of industry players rather than for prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Don’t get me wrong. I am for the economy to regenerate. But it shouldn’t be done at the expense of the health safety of our rakyat.

Industries should be allowed time to adjust working environments to comply to prevention and control of infectious diseases. A one-week notice for the industries to reopen would be nice. So May 12 should be a good time to reopen.

The government shouldn’t have announced on May 1 that the economy would be reopened on May 4. It’s crazy.

Some states have “defied” the order of the federal government but I don’t think they do it with any negative intention. After all, hadn’t they fully cooperated with the federal government during the first three MCOs?

It was because they knew that it was good for their states. For this CMCO, they certainly can foresee problems arising should they follow the federal government’s decision.

Though all states have been struck with the Covid-19 problem, we have to understand that they are not similarly struck. So how can we have one blanket decision for all states?

Evin K: This is what happens when you form a federal government without the people’s mandate - individual states will revolt as decisions at the federal level doesn’t appear to be in the best interest of state constituents, let alone states led by the current government parties that seem to be at odds with one another.

There is no confidence in federal leadership, hence why it’s imperative that Parliament resumes before industries and economies are forced to.

Plus, the only ministry that is seen as relevant and crucial at this point of time in our history is the Health Ministry, and their recommendations appear contradictory.

Quigonbond: Azmin, you think industry players will all play to your tune? The state governments may have their own concerns which are equally legitimate, and they are well entitled within their own jurisdiction to determine what, when and how businesses should re-open.

What Malaysian businesses want is for the federal government to provide leadership, to plan, pre-empt, instead of coming up with such last-minute decisions.

Just because the decision has finally and belatedly made, does not mean everybody needs to go back to work all at once. In fact, that might well be reckless.

You should go and advise the backdoor PM to convene a full parliamentary session. Don't wait for relief laws and measures to be debated in July.

Debate now so that Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) can help draft it for passage in July. If you only wait until July, where is the public consultation and engagement?

All this shows is (1) PN is running scared and (2) it is ill-prepared for the next steps - probably flying by the seat of its collective pants just to get these sets of SOPs out.

For something so simple, why do they make it so complicated?

Anonymous_0cb0104a: I guess business owners today, especially with a minister that feels like he is doing a great favour to them, have lost the actual purpose of why the MCO was first implemented.

Failure to adhere fully to the stringent requirements of social distancing and protective gear results in possible death.

Until a vaccine is found, we live in an environment that requires all of us to wear masks continuously and to be suspicious of everyone that comes near to us.

How many of our workers have been tested? How many of those that line up to buy food at the restaurants are free of the virus? Does a ‘V’ appear on their foreheads if they have the virus?

So, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Myviews: So now you are resorting to threats? What if, by opening up so suddenly and there is a significant surge in Covid-19 cases, will the federal government take responsibility? Is economic activity more important than losing lives?

And by the way, if you so confidently feel that everything is in order, why not open the parliamentary sitting to its full term instead of just one day? Isn’t Parliament important, being the highest decision-making body of the country? - Mkini