“many migrant workers who are
now forced to stay at home due
to MCO have other concerns
than getting the deadly virus”
best solution as of now in order
to give ample amount of time for
the Ministry of Health (MOH) to
continue doing the rapid test kit
(RTK) on Malaysian which was
retrieved from South Korea.
The Federation of Malaysian
Consumers Associations on the 3rd
of April urged the government to
not extend the MCO beyond April
14 unless the government have a
solution to provide monthly cash
for low-income earners.
The president Marimuthu
Nadason said low-income earners
and daily paid workers, including
migrant workers, would receive the
worst hit if the MCO were to be
extended. Not only that the migrant
workers are underpaid, there is
also no massive testing were to be
done to them until the government
procure the RTK.
The health ministry's directorgeneral
Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah
said on 20th April that he hoped
to boost testing among the foreign
workers.
The Malaysian Employers
Federation executive director
Shamsuddin Bardan said an issue
involving illegal workers is to
see whether they are covered by
insurance and whether they would
seek medical care if infected. He
also stated that it would be difficult
to monitor and control the outbreak
if the illegals are infected with
the virus. Besides, their living
condition could also be the factor of
the spread of the virus if there is no
massive testing conducted.
However, many migrant workers
who are now forced to stay at home
due to MCO have other concerns
than getting the deadly virus. Many
are worried about where their next
meal would come from as they are
not allowed to work during this
troubled time.
The question now is whether
this crisis will end any sooner and
what will happen to the economy
actually?
Noor Hisham pointed to the
World Health Organization's (WHO)
prediction that Malaysia will still
be at “war” with Covid-19 even
until next year unless a vaccine for
the coronavirus is found and made
available to the public.
Economists believe Malaysia
SASARAN EDISI 82 78
will suffer an economic recession
after the Covid-19 outbreak.
The director of the Institute for
Democracy and Economic Affairs,
Laurence Todd said it would be
impossible to return to “complete
freedom” even after the order
ends. He urged the government to
“seriously consider” what might
happen after the MCO to prevent
the closure of companies, job losses
and economic deficits.
He suggested allowing
economic activities to continue
in areas where the virus is under
control while taking further
precautionary measures at locations
with high numbers of infection.
This would involve looking at the
level of MCO compliance and to
what extent Putrajaya should allow
public movement. He also stated
that the government should try and
“exit” the MCO as soon as possible,
adding that the economy cannot
afford any further extensions to the
order.
He said that the government
needs a strategy as the RM250
billion stimulus package is only
meant as a short-term relief.