Getting to know the pros and cons of the conditional MCO — Farhan Kamarulzaman

MAY 15 — The conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), initiated on May 4 by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, may have some pros and cons.

One of the pros is that almost all economic sectors and business activities are allowed to resume business, subject to conditions and standard operating procedure (SOP) provided by the Ministry of Health.

This indeed would help Malaysia's companies and kick-start the economy, but some people somehow find it a vain effort to flatten the curve and curb Covid-19's spread.

It is also considered to be the action of securing livelihoods while battling the virus through effective SOP or maybe more like helping people economically after a long break during the previous Movement Control Order (MCO) phases.

Even some people are still afraid of going back to reality for work and resuming their daily activities because the number of daily cases is still in two or three digits although there are only a few Covid-19 red zones left in the country.

Based on the statistics, at the beginning of the CMCO, only 6.64 million or 43.6 per cent of the workers had returned to work and it is deemed that the number would rise after this.

This is also why people need to be health-conscious by taking several necessary steps such as wearing masks, health screening, practising social distancing and regularly washing hands with the hand sanitisers on the side.

According to the Health Director-General Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, the most effective approach that can be done now to minimize the spread of the virus is by practising social distancing.

Besides, it can be seen during this unprecedented moment that digitalisation is also needed so that people can adapt to the new norms because it is considered as one of the ways to reduce human contact.

For example, the utilisation of remote working, mobile technologies and unified communications and collaboration tools.

Currently, Malaysia has been doing well by following how China is doing this through a mandatory installation of an app to keep track of the health status and movements like what we did through Gerak Malaysia and MySejahtera.

Some experts have claimed that Malaysia is completely ready to restart economic activities, which is why the government agreed to implement the CMCO.

It is also supported by many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) including Nirvana Asia Group's founder and executive chairman Tan Sri Kong Hon Kong because the MCO has adversely affected their companies.

They also believed that the CMCO was introduced to strike a balance between public health and economic development.

Another point to note is that Malaysia incurred an estimated RM63bil in losses during the MCO which began on 18 March and our prime minister also stated that the country would incur another RM35bil loss if the MCO is extended for another month without any economic activity.

Regarding the unemployment issue, CMCO is required to save millions of jobs while ensuring the survival of SMEs. That’s why Malaysians need to work together to bring back our economy, ensure stability and protect the rakyat’s well-being by following the SOP and adopting the new norms.

If the MCO is extended again, it might be a quick measure to contain the virus but preventing the economy from further collapse is also an important issue to be addressed.

However, CMCO still has its shortcomings and one of them is the continuing implications for certain industries, particularly tourism, as the government has banned any travel to prevent the spread of viruses and thus, close the door to their livelihood.

They will also need to bear the burden on vehicle loans from the finance firms, as the industry is estimated to have more than 10,000 tour buses.

For many investment companies, in the wake of the pandemic they are changing their approaches and valuation models over the long term, and mostly reimagining the potential state of investing in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Also, the new norms would have a huge effect on retailers as the trend of social distancing could jeopardise business operations until the end of the pandemic.

It would result in shops either being closed or laying off their employees or even cutting down some unnecessary costs to maintain their cash flow, and there are about 80 per cent retailers that have already implemented cost reductions.

Yet if we look at how the number of Covid-19 cases have increased drastically after the government lifted its coronavirus lockdown in Hokkaido, Japan, we need to make sure that every significant requirement is adequately monitored before this CMCO is completely removed.

This means that several specific and effective approaches must be in place to constantly track the performance of CMCO towards curbing the spread of the virus.

While it is obvious that the CMCO would put the people at risk, all we need to do is to trust and respect the decision of the government and we should just continue to inculcate the new norms, whether we are ready or not, and avoid going out if it is not necessary.

*Farhan Kamarulzaman is a Research Assistant at EMIR Research, an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.

**This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.