This comes after health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reportedly said the domestic travel ban might remain until at least 70% of the population had been vaccinated.
The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta), Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) and Malaysian Tourist Guides Council (MTGC) said the industry could not afford to wait until then before allowing Malaysians to travel domestically.
Matta president Tan Kok Liang said Noor Hisham’s remarks were both surprising and of great concern, adding that it would effectively kill off the industry’s hope to make some sort of recovery in 2021.
He also told FMT that Noor Hisham’s remarks were confusing as it seemed to contradict science, technology and innovation minister Khairy Jamaluddin who had said a general election could be held when half the population had been immunised.
“If an election can be held, that means travel bans can be lifted. We are just confused and worried over all these extraordinary uncertainties.
“Every business establishment should be allowed to carry out its economic activities while embracing the highest level of safety standards to contain Covid-19. Innocent and conscientious travellers should not be victims of blanket interstate and inter-district travel bans.”
Tan said if Putrajaya was firm on its decision to only open up state borders when 70% of the population are immunised, then it was incumbent on the government to provide more assistance and compensation to the tourism industry.
MAH president N Subramaniam said the hotel industry could not even wait another month for state borders to open, telling FMT that more hotels will close if interstate travel is not opened up after March 4.
He warned Putrajaya that this would mean more people losing their jobs and sources of income, and reminded that the government had to balance between lives and livelihood.
“Malaysia’s projection is that only 80% of the population would be vaccinated by the first quarter of 2022. If we go by that timeline, the entire industry would be closed.
“Bear in mind that the government has not offered any other or more assistance to the tourism and hotel industry, and the wage subsidy programme is expected to end in March.”
MTGC president Jimmy Leong said a better and more effective way to prevent the virus from spreading is ensuring strict individual adherence to standard operating procedures rather than restricting domestic travel, since the latter comes with heavy economic costs.
He said Putrajaya needed to lift the domestic travel ban if it intends to make the reopening of MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) activities a success.
“With almost all international borders closed, interstate travel is the only feeder to most of the economy. The government must understand the hardships faced by both companies and people.
“The right approach now is to lift restrictions on border crossings while focusing strict restrictions on areas with new clusters.”
Noor Hisham had said a lesson could be learnt from the decision to reopen state borders late last year as this resulted in Covid-19 outbreaks in “green states” such as Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan.
“Once 70% of the population have been vaccinated, we may then consider reopening borders,” he said on Friday.
‘Unreasonable caution will bring undue harm’
Shankaran Nambiar of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research said the government should review the travel ban to account for the risks involved.
“Various segments of the economy have been terribly affected by the ban,” he said. “Much of the rural economy has taken blows from it as well.”
Although caution is needed in states dense with Covid-19 clusters, he said travel between green states should be allowed as unreasonable caution could bring undue harm to the economy if the government waits until February 2022 for herd immunity to be achieved.
Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said the government’s priority should be controlling the pandemic, and not the rakyat’s movement. “Once vaccine rollout covers 50% of the population, infectivity itself should be reduced,” he said.
Lee said that vaccinating high-risk groups paired with the set procedures should be more than enough to contain the pandemic, thus allowing the economic sector and domestic travel to reopen.
The government should take cues from vaccination programmes in other countries such as Israel, Singapore, Britain, the US, and the United Arab Emirates. “The initial data is very promising.”
Malaysia International Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive director Shaun Edward Cheah told FMT that domestic tourism would bring quick and effective rejuvenation to the economy.
Locking up the rakyat would not help them keep up with new norms or good health practices, given that infectious diseases were here to stay.
“Being healthy against non-communicable diseases is a better vaccine in the long run.”
Malaysian Medical Association president Dr Subramaniam Muniandy said the 70% herd immunity is just a guideline. “We expect the health ministry will be monitoring the research and come to a decision once sufficient data is available,” he said.
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