By Xavier Kong
WITH everyone having taken a potshot at the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development’s absolutely sexist “tip to maintain household happiness,” here’s my take on the issue: Rina Harun, this tip is so backwards it hails from the time before civilisation took root. This is bad, and you should feel bad.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s get back to something more current. Singapore’s Ministry of Law will be tabling a Bill for temporary relief from contractual obligations that are not fulfilled due to Covid-19, which protects businesses from suffering through contract defaults due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Bill covers a myriad of contracts, including leases, construction and supply contracts, the provision of goods and services, tourism defaults, and loan facilities to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
To top it off, they even have a body of impartial assessors tacked on to this, which prevents companies from abusing this Bill should it be passed. These assessors will act as a referee of sorts, where the two parties of a contract meet an assessor, present their case, and within a reasonable amount of time, the assessor comes back with an answer: yes, the company is eligible for the Bill, or no, they are not, please proceed with the contract.
This allows things to keep moving and not have the country drop into a legal and economic standstill as everyone begins suing everyone else for failure to abide by their contracts.
So here comes my question: Hello Malaysian government, why do we not have this?
This, right here, would protect SMEs a lot more than a moratorium on loans and financing. Sure, the moratorium does help, but being protected from being sued? With no worries that their tools of the trade will be seized or repossessed? That sounds like a better safety net, in my opinion.
At the same time, by offering these protections to SMEs, they are actually able to stay afloat and have a place to stand on to check out their plans for the future. Sure, with the volatility of the market as it is right now, we can’t be certain about much of anything, but this, at least, will remove these enterprises’ worry of being forcibly wound up.
Let’s move on to the B40 which, as the government should know, make up a large amount of the workforce, with most of them hired by SMEs. With the rules already in place where companies are not to terminate staff, as well as the wage subsidy, this additional measure would allow SMEs to better plan their finances and stay afloat while keeping their staff on board.
Look, this is not saying that cash in the pocket is a bad idea, but those measures are very much short term. Even if the pandemic ends tomorrow, the damage is already done. There will still be aftershocks in healthcare, as the last few cases trickle in and keep fears of a resurgence of the virus alive. Supply chains have all but stopped moving, and many are the businesses in a number of industries which are in danger of shuttering, especially as supply lines will take time to re-establish.
With how the pandemic has hit the world, going back to a pre-pandemic normal would be a long and arduous task. As much as the government is said to be keeping economy structures in place, why not this one more assurance for the SMEs that make up almost the entirety of Malaysian businesses?
If the worry is about a Bill such as this being passed in Parliament, I believe many are the politicians from both sides of the divide who have touted that “this is no time for politics.” Time to take those feet out of mouths (I am looking at you, Rina Harun and Dr Adham Baba) and walk the talk.
Would it really be that hard to draft up a similar Bill quickly, and call an emergency parliamentary meeting to pass it? If the intentions of the politicians on both sides are true to the feeling that “this is no time for politics,” the Bill should have no problems being passed.
Yes, the wounds from the change in government right before this whole pandemic worsened in Malaysia are still raw, fresh, and bleeding, but not taking care of the nation right now would be a mortal injury, one that could leave Malaysia a shadow of its former self if not treated.
I should not have to tell a doctor how to do his job, but tell me Dr Adham, in a matter of triage, should the open wound the patient is bleeding out from be attended to first, or the scratches on the face? — April 2, 2020
