Sin Chew Daily

Various economic sectors of the country are suffering tremendously during the movement control order. Although the government has unveiled a RM250 billion economic stimulus package that is supposed to not "leave out anyone", there are still inadequacies.

While the stimulus package appears to be quite comprehensive, not everyone benefits from it actually. Among those sidelined by the package are SMEs and self-employed individuals.

Self-employed individuals need to open their shops or stalls in order to have an income, and this group of people includes also many in the agriculture and fishery industries.

Sure enough their incomes will be remarkably reduced throughout the MCO. Even if they are allowed to operate, they still need to bear the rents, utility bills and miscellaneous expenses. For those who hire workers to help them, they still have to pay their employees' salaries.

SMEs constitute more than a third of the country's overall economy. Many wage-earners in this country are hired by SMEs. About 70-75% of SMEs in Malaysia are micro businesses that will have serious problem paying their staff if they do not open for business.

The government has ruled that companies must not lay off their workers, cut their salaries, or force them to take unpaid leave. The employers must also pay their workers on time, and this invariably adds to their already very heavy burden.

SMEs and micro businesses form an integral part of the supply chain in our economy. Without them, the chain will be broken. For example, although newspaper companies continue to operate as usual during MCO, they need lorries to deliver the papers, and newsagents to open their stalls and sell the newspapers. Unfortunately, newsagents and stationery shops are banned from operating in many places during MCO. As a consequence, these small business owners will have no income during this period of time, while newspaper companies are facing the issue of stagnant sales. Both newspaper companies and the reading public will be adversely affected.

If transportation companies choose not to operate during this time, many industries will suffer. Although they are allowed to operate during MCO, some have decided not to do so to avoid unnecessary trouble.

As for producers of agricultural products, many farmers have been unable to send their harvested vegetables to the markets in major towns and cities, resulting in some of them having to be destroyed. Even if they were to set up their own stalls to sell the products, they may be ordered to stop doing so by the local authorities or the police.

Although some of them have kindly given away their unsold vegetables to those in need for free, this is not a long-term solution because the farmers need to survive also. They will have more tough days ahead if the coronavirus situation does not improve anytime soon.

Some of the farmers do not own their land and need to lease the land for farming purposes, not to mention fertilisers, chemicals and other expenses they have to bear.

As if that is not enough, their revenue may also be affected by unpredictable climatic factors, and all these sum up to be a monumental burden for our vegetable farmers.

In view of this, it is imperative that the government improve on the existing stimulus package in order to resolve the problems of a wider segment of the Malaysian society, instead of just giving away cash to specific groups of people.

The government must do its utmost to help the SMEs as well as self-employed people because these people form the pillars of our grassroots economy. If they fall, the country's economy may slant and fall with them.

Bank Negara has allowed a 6-month moratorium on loan repayment. This should allow many self-employed individuals to take a momentary breather. Nevertheless, the government must also ensure that these people have sufficient cash flow to turn things around. As such, the government must adopt a solution that is acceptable to all parties.

It is hoped that the government will listen to the voices of the people and fine-tune the stimulus package as soon as possible to help more Malaysians weather the coronavirus crisis.