The former youth and sports minister was responding to finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz’s statement at a press conference yesterday on the limited scope of the loan moratorium announced as part of the Permerkasa Plus aid package.

Unlike the first movement control order (MCO) in March 2020, this time round the moratorium was not automatic and was not implemented across the board.

Tengku Zafrul said the government had no legal force to dictate what moratoriums banks can provide or how they are implemented.

Instead, he said the newly announced opt-in moratorium was a result of discussions between Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the banks.

Taking to Facebook today, Syed Saddiq said that if the proclamation of emergency gives the government comprehensive powers to provide for the needs of the people, such as approving the usage of funds without parliamentary debate, pushing for a blanket loan moratorium should have been no different.

“Wouldn’t that be allowed? What is the purpose of the emergency if this is the only response the finance minister can give?” he asked.

“Were the people only poor, hungry and sick during MCO 1.0, but not MCO 3.0?”

Syed Saddiq said despite the moratorium from last year, banks were still able to record profit growth in the first quarter of the year, arguing that it is not a situation of the banks being unable to afford the aid measure.