KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) has expressed regret and great concern over constant u-turns on the government’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) under movement control order 3.0 (MCO 3.0).
Its President Tan Sri T.C Goh said such a chaotic trend of inconsistency has not only caused unnecessary confusion and inconvenience for the people, but also inflicted financial burden and losses to the business sector.
He thus urged both the Federal and state governments to be more thoughtful and better coordinate with each and every individual state, when coming out with such SOPs. He said this is important, so as to prevent inconsistency in government policy and decision, as reflected in the recent case where the two east Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak decided to retain conditional MCO (CMCO), despite the announcement of a nationwide MCO by the prime minister.
“By right, after more than a year of formulating various categories of SOPs since the nation first imposed its MCO on 18 March, 2020, the government should have accumulated sufficient experience and know-how in this aspect. Hence, the persisting trend of u-turns in the Covid-19 SOPs is regrettable and unacceptable,” he contended.
He cited for example, recently the Ministry of Education ordered all nurseries and kindergartens in the country to close until 6 of June. However, in a statement issued by the prime minister later, in the same day, such a directive was reversed, allowing them to operate with SOPs. This u-turn of directive had evidently caused great inconvenience to both the nurseries/kindergartens and the parents.
He further cited that, many business operators were upset by disruption to their business caused by abrupt listing of shopping malls under Hotspot Identification for Dynamic Engagement (HIDE), which requires them to close three days for disinfection, without prior warning or notification.
“While we appreciate the government’s noble intention and effort to contain the spread of the Covid-19 infection, we nonetheless hope that the implementation of this HIDE system can be further improved, so as not to add any further adverse pressure on businesses,” he urged.
Meanwhile, Goh who is also President of the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) welcomed and supported the recent statement by Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob that, the National Security Council’s (NSC) Technical Committee has decided to implement a single set of SOPs under the newly announced MCO for the whole country.
However, he also supported the move adopted by certain states to make adjustments to some of the SOPs, in order to better suit their own unique socio-economic circumstances.
“Such flexibility is acceptable and should be allowed,” he said.
He cited for example, the SOP limiting a maximum capacity of three persons per car is not so practical for Sabah and Sarawak, especially in the remote interior parts, where river transportation is more fundamental, as compared to land/road transportation.
Nonetheless, he reiterated that, when it comes to certain fundamental SOPs involving the whole nation, it should be standardized. Hence, prior to their implementation, the Federal government through the NSC must strive to ensure a better communication and discussion with all the state governments, to gather their views and proposals, so as to avoid making any u-turn afterwards.
Besides this, he also proposed the relevant authorities like the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), to strive to gather feedback and proposals from the public and various industries, prior to submitting their proposals to the NSC for formulating of SOPs.
“For instance, it was most appropriate that prior to the Chinese New Year celebration and Qing Ming Festival, the Ministry of National Unity made an effort to communicate and consult with various Chinese organizations prior to issuing the relevant SOPs,” he cited.
Meanwhile, Huazong has come out with the following proposals for the government and the people’s attention:
1. Government departments and agencies, both at federal and state level, must strive to have proper discussion and coordination after gathering feedback from the people and businesses, prior to formulating and announcing the various SOPs, instead of making u-turn afterwards
2. While key/fundamental policies or SOPs should be standardized, individual states should be allowed to make necessary adjustments to some of the policies/SOPs to better suit their unique circumstances.
3. With most government departments and agencies too are currently adopting the work from home (WFH) approach, the Public Service Department should come out with a more efficient online service to cater to the public, so as to ensure our government system continues to function efficiently.
4. Politicians from both sides of the divide must stop politicizing trivial matters, and to place national interests above all.
5. Business operators must continue to fully comply with all SOPs mandated by the government to better contain the spread of Covid-19 infections.
6. Urging all Malaysians to come forward to register for the national immunization program, in order to achieve the target of nationwide immunization, ahead of schedule.
7. Urging all Chinese organizations to fully cooperate and comply with the SOPs issued by the Registrar of Societies (RoS), and to avoid/or postpone events of mass gathering, and to switch to online mode.
8. Urging the government to continue to provide targeted stimulus packages and welfare aids to those affected businesses and individuals, to assist them to get through the pandemic-induced difficult time.
9. Urging the relevant authority not to simply impose such a hefty compound of RM10,000 on individuals and businesses, unless it was a case of repeated offence; and proposing the government to penalize offenders in a gradual and more acceptable manner.-pr/BNN
