KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Nobody was spared when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country back in 2020.

The economic and social disruptions caused by Covid-19 presented such a dramatic and devastating loss that many suffered pay cuts, lost their jobs or had to shut down their businesses.

Extension of special moratorium needed

Sangeetha Ravindran, a game tester, said the government helped when it implemented a special moratorium targeted at micro, small and medium enterprises or PMKS in short, which stands for Peniaga dan Pengusaha Perusahaan Mikro, Kecil dan Sederhana.

"The special moratorium that was established greatly helped micro, small and medium entrepreneurs but the moratorium was discontinued too early.

"It should have been continued for a longer time frame to give room for PMKS to recover from their losses caused by the pandemic.

"However, other assistance for PMKS operators such as reduced income tax payments and financial assistance, although helping to reduce the burden of PMKS to a small extent, was not enough to provide a significant safety net,” said the 23-year-old.

Sangeeta and her family experienced a higher than usual income burden during the pandemic and the effects can still be felt until today.

From her experience throughout the pandemic, she said the government should use existing technological advances to extend funds as the introduction of new systems will only result in the spending of more funds.

"Various studies have been carried out to assess the needs of PMKS and the National Recovery Council (NRC) should use this data to provide subjective assistance to individual needs,” she said.

As technological development is very fast-paced, the government should ensure that there is a stable Internet network offered to users at a reasonable price.

"At least mid-range performance computers should be distributed to the underprivileged so that they have basic tools that can be used for upskilling courses that are offered and done online.

"Thousands of free courses in various fields already exist on the Internet but the knowledge cannot be accessed by people who are facing financial difficulties.

"The government’s focus should be on bridging the existing technology gaps in Malaysia,” she added.

For two years, Sivenesan Ganapathy’s small manufacturing company was out of commission.

He had no income but still had to pay rent.

"We had to shut down our factory for almost two years, and some of our raw materials also became unusable. We had no income, but had to pay rent. We were quite badly affected,” he said.

The 69-year-old said the situation was very bad for his business even until today as there were loans which needed to be serviced even before the pandemic hit the country’s shores.

"We are struggling to restart our business because we have used up all our savings to pay the rent and for our own survival during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period.

"We don’t have the money to buy more raw materials. We have lost our regular customers,” he said, explaining that his family only managed to survive as they are running a day-care for children from home.

Sivenesan added that the business community could benefit from an extended moratorium period as many are still struggling to rebuild their businesses.

"You have to look at whether the country has recovered. I don’t think we have... so many businesses are still struggling.”

"The moratorium given earlier was insufficient. Some businesses may have bounced right back after the economy reopened but some others may take up to five or 10 years to recover,” he said.

He said the government could help by extending the special moratorium or at least rope in the NRC to help. "Maybe the council can review on a case-by-case basis on how to help individual businesses for things like refinancing loans and dealing with the banks,” he said.

Businesses shuttered or reactivating slowly

The tourism industry was severely affected by the pandemic as borders were closed to tourists for almost two years.

Mohd Rofik Mohd Yusoff, 60, director of tour bus company Ifwat Trans Travel n Tours Sdn Bhd said while the moratorium had helped the tourism industry to reactivate business, perhaps the government could look into how aid can be distributed more efficiently.

"Our life and business are now gradually recovering a little but there is still this risk of debt burden for the purchase of buses that is overdue as there were no tourists during lockdowns.

"The suggestion for the creation of an integrated system for centralised aid distribution process is greatly appreciated, but if possible, let the aid be distributed directly to industry players without much bureaucracy,” said Mohd Rofik said.

On October 15, NRC chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin suggested that a centralised system be created to integrate the management of all the various public welfare aid being handed out by government agencies.

Muhyiddin said there are gaps in the administration of these aid as there are some people from needy groups who are not receiving any aid while others are collecting aid from two to three agencies.

Founder and chief executive officer of DegoRIDE, Nabil Feisal Bamadhaj, is among many who had to resort to closing their business.

The 38-year-old who runs Malaysia’s first motorcycle taxi service said they could not operate due to restrictions implemented to prevent Covid-19 from spreading.

"Unfortunately, we had to pivot our business during the lockdown and stop our motor taxi services for two years.

"Fast forward to today, because we have been unable to secure the continuation of the original short-lived proof of concept we operated under, more than 5,000 of our riders are unable to earn alternative income with their bikes, and we have informed our staff about two months ago that we will be closing down,” said Nabil.

He, too, agreed that the special moratorium could really help a lot of SME operators as a way of regaining cash flow to either grow their business or make necessary payments which could not be done during the pandemic period.

"And I really think it’s no advantage to banks if the SME loans are being defaulted.

"It’s better to boost the SME sector via the moratorium which will multiply positive effects for the SMEs as well as the nation, rather than seeing the SMEs unable to service their loans.

"With the extended moratorium, they will gain even if it is for another six months only.”

Partner of a small auditing firm Padmani, 57, said for small companies, they could use more flexible hiring incentives.

She said her company managed to survive the pandemic with some help and incentives offered by the government. "It is hopeful that some requirements can be relaxed.

"We want to take an intern as full-time staff but it does not meet the requirements of the hiring incentive as it only works for new hires,” she said.

Layla Rahmat, a mother of two, said she lost her job at the start of the pandemic and as a result, her department in the company became redundant.

"It worked for me that schools were closed at the same time and I was able to stay at home and look after my children. Two years down the road now, I have found a job but there are sectors which are still recovering.

"Schools resuming does not mean that everything is back to normal because our children have lost a lot of progress.

"Extra classes could be a remedy but not all are able to attend the classes,” she said.

Layla said because some parents are working full-time, they are unable to send and pick up their children to attend extra classes.

"Perhaps there is something the government could do and that is to implement a hybrid working environment so that we can opt to work from home when it is needed.

"Right now, I can’t send my children for extra classes simply because I can’t get off work,” she said.

Helping the disabled

Persons with disabilities (PwD) were also among those who were badly affected by the pandemic, and for Yana Karim, she lost her entire source of income.

"I am still earning zero, relying on my sister’s income and my Elaun Pekerja OKU (EPOKU) to pay my bills.

"I am using my training (received via online programmes during the lockdowns) to do advocacy work which my group of friends on Twitter started during the first lockdown.

"Advocates are practically earning zero,” said Yana who is founder of Boleh Space, a disability advocacy and awareness movement.

One of the ways the government can help, Yana said, is to lower the interest rates for loans to just one per cent to make it more affordable.

"I received Geran Khas Prihatin for my business in the beginning, but then twice now, I found out that I was not on the BKM (Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia) list. I do not have any idea how to appeal.

"Not sure what integrated system they used because several PwDs and I with businesses were excluded from the BKM list. We were also excluded from Jendela (the mobile device aid) and PekaB40, the medical aid.

"Yes, we do receive the monthly aid with EPOKU but that’s for our monthly expenses. Why are we not getting the mobile device plan and health aid that other B40 received?” she asked.

She added that having an integrated system should mean better knowledge of how to help people, especially older persons and PwDs.

"An integrated system should not just be about avoiding giving out overlapping aid but also about how to plan disaster preparedness and rescues better.

"Right now, PwD data is kept by the Welfare Department (JKM). It needs to be integrated nationwide,” she said.

Anthony Thanasayan, 62, said there was not much information available about the programmes that were implemented to aid the disabled community.

"There’s no point making something for us and then not getting the information out to us.

"We’re the most vulnerable group and we don’t have access to the aid. They have to make a special effort to do that (reach out),” he said.

Thanasayan, who is the president of Petpositive, an animal-assisted therapy association for the disabled and elderly, said not all disabled people are technology savvy and this is one of the hindrances to them missing out on aid by the government.

Future of education

"They should give computers and training on how to use it to everyone.

"Also, we must start with schools being wheelchair friendly. I had to stop schooling when I was 10 because they told me as I couldn’t walk... they told me to go to a special school.

"How are we inside the picture of the NRC programme? Specifics need to be addressed. People like me who are in the house, how are you going to reach out to me? Good that you can come up with the ideas, but people like me cannot go out to you, the government has to come to us,” Thanasayan added.

Sivenesan, meanwhile, added that schools need to refocus on teaching children handiwork and making it an option for job opportunities.

"It is so hard nowadays to get local welders or plumbers, and a lot of the foreigners don’t do a good job. Last time, it was so easy to get the locals. We need to look at how to make handiwork jobs high paying like in Australia or the United Kingdom.

"I think there are many young people who would be interested in this field. Back in my time, the schools taught us how to make baskets, fix our bicycles or pipes. We can sustain our lives by ourselves,” he said.

In this area, Nabil said it is his hope to see Malaysia’s education system produce the best competitive performers in terms of skills and income in Asia by 2030 onwards due to the country’s unique multi-racial base.

"Similar to the suggestion of creating a unified system for assistance and aid, this approach can be applied here too because only with such a system would this be possible as the current system only tracks the educational grades of students and doesn’t connect to employment, upskilling, reskilling and training,” he said.

Mohd Rofik added that the education ministry should seriously look into reviewing the existing syllabus as the school timetable is too packed and there is no time for the children to rest in order to absorb what they have learned.

"Increase the number of basic courses for upskilling and reskilling in order to be in line with current needs to face the ever-changing global environment,” he said.