THE above are words from elated entrepreneur who have finally received their outstanding Wage Subsidy Programme 2.0 (PSU 2.0) incentive payment from the Social Security Organisation (Socso) after their plight was highlighted in FocusM recently.
Founder and director of public relations outfit Wan Two3 Sdn Bhd Jeanisha Wan confirmed that she has received payment for the months of October and November yesterday.
“Anyway, I hope I’m not one of the lucky ones simply because I’m deemed a ‘protagonist’ for daringly speaking up to the media,” she quipped. “Hopefully, the December payment will be prompt.”
Having been given cold shoulder after raising the issue of delayed payment numerous times on Socso’s Facebook or even after written to The Star (Wan’s woes were published in the daily’s “Letters” section on Dec 11), FocusM took up her plight by promising to resolve her anguish.
This culminated in FocusM publishing two articles “Frustration with Socso on wage subsidy issue reaching boiling point” on Dec 12 and “Socso acknowledges shortcomings yet warns employers against firing staff” on Dec 23, the latter of which carried Socso’s responses to the business portal’s queries about delays encountered by Wan and other successful applicants of the Wage Subsidy Programme (PSU).
Like those recipients, FocusM also wishes to convey its gratitude to Socso for allowing the media to fulfill its role by being a worthwhile mediator. Moreover, Socso has taken the effort to exclusively provide a comprehensive feedback to all the questions raised.
Socso has indeed lived up to its words that the Wage Subsidy Programme payments “remain Socso’s top priority and it (payment) will resume at the soonest possible time”.
Nevertheless, FocusM hopes that Socso’s key management will continue to forge long-term working relationship with the media even if a hiccup stands in between both parties due to a lack of understanding on how the media operate.
This follows what FocusM hears from the grapevine that the top brass was unhappy with the portal’s headline in its follow-up article, “Socso acknowledges shortcomings yet warns employers against firing staff”.
In all fairness, the headline sums up the gist of Socso’s response to FocusM although admittedly, the choice of certain words could be perceived as ‘harsh’.
But in all account, FocusM truly appreciates the effort taken by Socso’s corporate communication team to draft such a detailed feedback which was backed by relevant and updated statistics. – Dec 29, 2020
