THE extra day of public holiday given for Hari Raya Aidilfitri will incur billions of ringgit in losses or late penalties, according to the head of a business group.
Datuk William Ng, chairman of the Small and Medium Enterprises Association (SAMENTA), indicated that while companies usually encouraged their employees to enjoy the festivities, mandatory paid public holidays were deemed “unnecessary”.
Ng pointed out that Malaysia has the highest number of public holidays in the world, and that in private discussions with investors, a common joke was that employers hoped Malaysia would not win football matches since this would probably mean another paid public holiday.
“It’s an unhealthy practice that must stop,” he told FMT.
“If certain festivities are important enough to warrant a public holiday, they can be planned months or years ahead, approved by the Cabinet, and communicated to the industry.”
He pointed out that the capacity of businesses to plan ahead of time is critical for the fulfilment of orders, contractual obligations, deliveries, and logistics.
Ng described a hypothetical scenario in which a restaurant ordered perishable items to be delivered on what the owner assumed would be a working day, only to discover that it had been declared a public holiday.
“With delivery services halted, those items could be wasted. Who should bear the costs in such a case? The restaurant owner, the supplier or the government?” he said.
Echoing Ng, SME Association of Malaysia secretary-general Chin Chee Seong suggested that public holidays should be announced with more notice.
“The number of public holidays in Malaysia is already high. If we continue (like this), it will begin to affect our revenue,” he opined.
“We hope this isn’t something the government will practise again and again as it is not appropriate to do so at the last minute.”
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday (April 19) announced that if Aidilfitri falls on Friday, Putrajaya would declare an additional public holiday the following Monday (April 24).
If Aidilfitri falls on Saturday, the additional public holiday will be set for Friday, while the Raya public holiday will be set for Monday.
On Tuesday (April 18) Mydin hypermarket managing director Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin said that the extra public holiday would cost his company RM500,000.
According to the Malaysian Employers Federation, every public holiday in Malaysia ends up costing the private sector nearly RM1 bil in lost productivity in 2019. – April 20, 2023
Main pic credit: SME Asia
