The Magellan Sutera Resort.
KOTA KINABALU: The Covid-19 pandemic has undoubtedly taken an unprecedented toll on businesses and livelihoods of the people. Many companies and shops are struggling to keep their businesses afloat amid the weak economy and demand cut-backs.
Employers have lamented that they are bleeding financially in order to prevent their businesses from going under, particularly during the start of the Movement Control Order (MCO) imposed on March 18 this year when non-essential services were banned from operating. Even during the current Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) phase, businesses are working hard to recoup the losses over the past few months and trying to sustain their operations in these trying times.
Meanwhile, the livelihoods of employees are also adversely affected as many have lost their jobs or struggling to make ends meet with salary cuts.
The government has taken various measures to alleviate the plight of the people, including introducing the Kita Prihatin package recently that is worth RM10 billion.
Announced by the Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Sept 23 this year, the Kita Prihatin package is an extension of previous economic stimulus packages, namely Prihatin, Prihatin SME Plus and Penjana worth a total of RM295 billion, or about 20 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with an additional fiscal injection by the government totalling RM45 billion.
The Kita Prihatin package includes the RM7 billion Bantuan Prihatin Nasional 2.0 (BPN 2.0), the RM2.4 billion Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP) 2.0 and the RM600 million Prihatin Special Grant (GKP) worth RM600 million.
One of the beneficiaries of the WSP is Advanced Prestige Sdn Bhd, which manages the Sutera Harbour Resort that employs more than 1,200 workers. The 384-acre resort near Kota Kinabalu city centre comprises five-star hotels, a 27-hole golf course, a 104-berth marina and a golf and country club with extensive recreational facilities.
The WSP has helped the company in terms of paying the salaries of our employees because the tourism sector has been gravely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and MCO.
— Mohamad Al’freedo Mohd Yahya
The Pacific Sutera Hotel and The Magellan Sutera Resort offer a total of 956 guest rooms and suites. Its Director of Human Resources and Training, Mohamad Al’freedo Mohd Yahya, said the company had applied for Employment Retention Programme (ERP) in April, followed by the WSP and WSP 2.0.
“The WSP has helped the company in terms of paying the salaries of our employees because the tourism sector is gravely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and MCO.”
Nevertheless, he suggested the government not to limit the WSP to 200 workers for each company. Mohamad Al’freedo also hoped that the government would also assist individuals earning more than RM4,000 a month as all wage earners contributed to the Social Security Organisation (Socso). Under the Prihatin economic stimulus package announced on March 27, the WSP subsidised wages for three months.
Application for WSP began on April 1 and ended on Sept 30. On June 5, the programme was extended for an additional three months under the Penjana national economic recovery plan.
In September, Muhyiddin announced that the WSP would be extended for an additional three months for existing employers currently receiving it; while businesses that have yet to apply for WSP may receive six months of aid in total. The programme was dubbed WSP 2.0.
Although our company is categorised as an essential service, our operations had been affected during the MCO phase as other nonessential industries were not allowed to open. Our operations rely on other industries.
— Wan Azilidah Wan Daudd
Meanwhile, Tetap Yakin Sdn Bhd managing director Wan Azilidah Wan Daudd admitted that it would be extremely difficult for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to stay afloat during the MCO period without government assistance.
Since its establishment in 1983, she said the company had grown from being a panel contractor of Telekom Malaysia (TM) to a network partner for infrastructure development and maintenance of the converged communications services provider.
“Although our company is categorised as an essential service, our operations had been affected during the MCO phase as other non-essential industries were not allowed to open. Our operations rely on other industries.”
As such, Wan Azilidah was grateful for the WSP provided by the government as her company’s revenue has dropped 50 per cent, particularly during the MCO period. She also praised the Social Security Organisation for its high efficiency in assisting SMEs with the WSP application.
“Application for WSP should be smooth if companies provide all the necessary information.”
Tetap Yakin Sdn Bhd thanks the government for the Wage Subsidy Programme, which has prevented SMEs from going under.
In fact, she said Tetap Yakin Sdn Bhd was able to hire an additional 24 employees, thereby increasing its workforce from 75 to 99, thanks to Penjana Kerjaya, a hiring incentive programme under Socso.
“We want to thank the government for providing WSP and other supports to help SMEs sustain during these difficult times. “We hope that the government would also look into assisting SMEs’ fixed overhead costs.”
