MP claims coffee shops, pharmacies still struggling with CIMS 3.0

 

As Malaysia entered the fourth day of "total lockdown", a Perak lawmaker said he is still receiving complaints from pharmacies and coffee shops on the hurdles in getting approval to open shop.

In a statement today, Ipoh Timur MP Wong Kah Woh said the government, especially the International Trade and Industry Ministry's Covid-19 intelligent management system (CIMS 3.0), was imposing unnecessary bureaucracy for essential services.

He said the essential nature of coffee shops and pharmacies cannot be disputed and, hence, CIMS 3.0 approval was not necessary, especially since it is still struggling to cope.

"We cannot punish the small business owners within the genuine essential sectors for the failure of the ministers in administering this movement control order.

"I call upon the National Security Council to ensure that genuine essential service operators, such as coffee shops and pharmacies, are allowed to operate without the need of going through CIMS 3.0," he said.

Wong (above)  said some complainants have told him that CIMS 3.0 application was stuck with a "BAHARU" status for "days", while some have still not been able to log in to submit their application.

Wong said this must be sorted out immediately as the districts of Pengkalan Hulu, Taiping, Hulu Kinta, and Hulu Bernam Timur in Perak were coming out of enhanced MCO restrictions tomorrow.

The government had decided at the eleventh hour on May 31 to centralise the process of obtaining approval to operate during the two-week "total lockdown" period which began on June 1.

This has caused massive congestions on the CIMS 3.0 website. Tests at about 2pm today revealed that the website was generally accessible.

Apart from delays, several firms, which are not qualified for exemptions, appeared to have been able to slip through the CIMS 3.0 vetting process. - Mkini