Jonathan Chai
KUCHING (May 3): The government will need to come up with additional aid measures to keep businesses afloat should another round of Movement Control Order (MCO) be enforced to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country, said a business leader.
Kuching Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCGCCI) secretary-general Jonathan Chai cautioned that the unemployment rate would continue to rise and more businesses were anticipated to close if the government impose MCO 3.0 without providing aid packages to businesses.
“It would be devastating for the businesses should another round of MCO be implemented, especially when the economy has just started to ‘crawl back’ for recovery,” he said when contacted by The Borneo Post.
He asked to comment on the government mulling over the enforcement of MCO 3.0 in a few states including Sarawak to break the chain of Covid-19 infection.
Chai said he was doubtful that another round of MCO would actually help to stop the pandemic given the mentality of the people on the ground.
He asserted that the people had to change their mindset and take the matter seriously by upholding discipline and strictly adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the authorities.
“Like many other countries in the world, I think the people have taken things for granted after the first round of MCO when most people were so disciplined and obedient then.
“But look at what has happened around us for the past months, the Covid-19 clusters from the wedding receptions, funeral services. And the virus is omnipresent, you just need a small mishap to wipe out all the efforts in keeping the pandemic under control,” he said.
As such, Chai proposed that the government should tighten the SOP and its enforcement.
He said it is high time for the community to wake up and discard their lackadaisical attitude towards their compliance with the SOP.
“There are good examples from countries like China, Australia and New Zealand for us to emulate and they have contained the outbreak of the pandemic through the combined and collective efforts of the government and the community,” he added.
Yesterday, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob told The Borneo Post’s sister paper Oriental Daily that the National Security Council would convene in Putrajaya at 3pm today to decide whether or not to enforce MCO 3.0 in several states.
On Saturday, Minister of Health Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said his ministry had recommended the government to enforce MCO over states that had been recording high daily numbers of Covid-19 positive cases.
The ‘states’ referred to were Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor and Sarawak.