Michael Kang, president of the Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia, said it was important for the country to manage the spread of Covid-19 infections but not at the cost of the economy.
“Otherwise, people will die because they do not have food, not because they have Covid-19,” he told FMT.
He said travel restrictions should be lifted and all economic sectors must be opened up after the MCO so that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) could work on recovering business after weeks of closure.
He estimated that most SMEs would take six to nine months to get out of the red even if they were allowed to operate fully.
Shaun Edward Cheah, executive director of the Malaysia International Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the tourism sector needed to rejuvenate and this required the government to allow interstate and inter-district travel.
He said all hotels had strict standard operating procedures and sanitising equipment in place, and he called for a conditional MCO that would allow hotel guests to move around.
“Internal tourism is still the fastest way for economic recovery,” he said.
However, a representative of the travel business said the tourism industry was willing to accept continued restrictions although he found it “painful” to hear of the possibility of an extension of travel restrictions.
“Looking at the bigger picture, we have to work towards reducing the alarming number of Covid-19 cases,” said Uzaidi Udanis, president of the Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association.
“These are difficult times for us, but we have to put up with it in the interest of the public,” he said. “Otherwise, we will never get out of this crisis.”
He said the industry had, after a year of living with the pandemic, adapted to the new normal, such as selling local products online and promoting virtual tours of holiday destinations.
He added that he was confident Malaysians would fully support the industry once it was safe to do so, as they did last June when domestic tourism was allowed after the first MCO.
Yesterday, Adham proposed that the ban on interstate and inter-district travel remain in place after Feb 18, when the current MCO is scheduled to be lifted.
He said the travel restrictions would help curb the spread of Covid-19 and bring down the number of daily cases reported by his ministry, eventually flattening the curve.
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