PETALING JAYA, July 15 (Sin Chew Daily) – Local business organizations have urged the government not to extend the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) currently enforced in several districts and areas in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

They say the daily new infection numbers have continued to rise despite one and a half months of nationwide lockdown and two weeks of EMCO for Selangor and KL, adding that this shows the measures have failed badly.

They urge the government to lift the EMCO and allow operators to restart their businesses in strict compliance with the SOPs.

Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) Selangor & Kuala Lumpur branch chairman Jacob Lee Chor Kok said the government should allow factories to operate under strict SOPs.

"Many foreign businesses from the US, Germany, Japan, etc. have written to the prime minister that they are considering withdrawing their production bases from Malaysia."

He also urged the public not to be affected by incorrect data, as statistics show that only 6% of positive cases have involved factories.

"If factories are the main sources of infection, then the number of new cases should drop significantly after closing the factories for one month. The staggering infection numbers now show that community infections are out of hand!"

He also said only 100,000 people have been inoculated so far under the public-private partnership immunization program (PIKAS) which started on June 16, while there are 2.23 million factory workers in the country.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Shopping Malls Association (PPK) has pointed out that any extension of EMCO should take into consideration the livelihoods of Malaysians.

"EMCO is only a tool to temporarily control large volumes of human traffic. Mass vaccination is the ultimate solution to contain the virus," the association said.

"Any decision to extend the EMCO for Selangor and KL must be based on absolute necessity because of the very severe damage it does to the national economy, especially at a time many companies are on the brink of closure or bankruptcy, with massive layoffs."

Malaysian Hairdressing Association (MHA) president Michael Poh said many people will starve to death if the EMCO is extended further.

He said hair salons in the country have suffered 50% to 70% business loss since MCO and MCO 2.0, as they are only allowed to provide haircut service and not others like hair dyeing.

He said the number of new infections continue to record new highs despite the restrictions enforced, proving that the government's anti-virus strategy has been completely wrong.