WHETHER its voice will be heard or only drown amid other bigger concerns – notably the forthcoming Johor State election (March 12) – the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has strongly urged the Government to re-open Malaysia’s international borders to fully vaccinated individuals in order to reactivate businesses and the economy.
For one, easing the border restriction would facilitate human capital movement for work and trade which would have a positive impact on the recovery of industries as well as help address the unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to FMM’s president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai.
“Particularly many companies in the manufacturing sector which are on their road to business recovery are considering capacity expansion, new business opportunities, diversification of business and products, exploring new markets, etc,” he justified in a media statement.
“In addition, there are also companies commissioning new machinery and equipment as part of their business and product diversification, deploying new R&D projects, and commissioning technology adoption from overseas vendors – all as part of their business revival strategies.”
Soh said many of these companies would require their business partners/customers, vendors or technical experts to be physically present here to seal the negotiations as well as to commission projects.
“While we acknowledge that the Government has provided a one-stop-centre fast track approval mechanism to ease the entry of short-term and long-term business travellers, we believe that the further easing of the border restrictions, including removal of the existing approval and quarantine processes would reduce both the idle time spent in quarantine and the cost impact,” he pointed out.
“Many of our regional neighbours are already reopening their borders with Thailand resuming quarantine-free travel from Feb 1, Philippines (from Feb 10) and Australia (from Feb 21).”
Soh further noted that none of these countries has been spared from the Omicron wave with some being even more badly impacted given that their vaccination rates are lower than Malaysia’s.
“Alternatively, the Government should increase the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) arrangement as done with Singapore with other key countries that can be categorised into different risk levels based on their COVID-19 public health response and vaccination rates as well as Malaysia’s reliance on these countries for trade as well as tourism,” he recommended. – Feb 23, 2022
