Pakej Rangsangan Ekonomi Prihatin Rakyat 2020
One of my main concerns from last week's recently unveiled economic stimulus plan is that it did not sufficiently address the problems faced by the private sectors, including retailers. They are left to find their own ways on how to survive and pay the full amount of salaries to all their staff even though there are no sales being made at this period of time. Though the plan itself is a plan that covers a wide segment of people, including the B40 and M40 (and not just the B40), which is lauded, but there must be an improvement to extend that assistance to those in the private sector. The people who are not receiving adequate assistance from this plan are indeed the private sector employers.
Datuk Mustapa Mohamad, the Minister in the Prime Minister's department said in an interview on Sunday that improvements need to be made to address the grievances of the private sector, and he himself will meet with representatives of the private sector, before bringing the matter to the Prime Minister's Office. I hope that the government will seriously look into this.
The Economic Plan.
RM100 billion was allocated for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), however the allocation for this is not considered sufficient.
Employers will receive a subsidy of RM600 for the payment of salaries for employees below the salary of RM4000. Meaning to say for an employee with a salary of RM2500, employers will only need to pay RM1900, and the rest will be covered by the government. Although this sounds great, which it is, it is not enough. Employers also many staff to pay, so RM600 is not adequate. They also have staff who have wages above RM4000, and they have to be paid in full.
Employers also have not the option to cut any staff's salaries or retrench anyone, which puts employers in a corner, since this reduces the option for the employers to save the company, which has faced high amount of losses in sales. This is made worse by the fact that employers still need to pay for rental (which many landlord are not willing to compromise) as well as high corporate taxes.
Moreover, this is coupled with the fact that employees themselves are already receiving the one-off assistance from the Economic Plan, as well as other assistance such as deferment of loan payments for the next six months, so it is not to say that employees will receive nothing if they do not receive the full salary from employers. In order to assist employers who are also ordinary Malaysians, without forcing them to go bankrupt, the government should extend more assistance in terms of aids such as increasing the subsidy for employees, or give the choice for employers to cut salaries BUT increasing the assistance in the one-off payment.
Employers are given other aids but it is in terms of low-interest loans, such as the RM4.5 billion stated in the plan for small and medium enterprises. The issue is not all companies would be prepared or willing to engage in taking up more loans for themselves. This is a business decision depending on the companies themselves.
Government could also mull on the idea of taking up the responsibility of payment for EPF from the company. This could greatly help the companies.
RM500 for pensioners?
With all due respect to the pensioners who have contributed a good part of their life to the services of the public sector, I do not see the rationale behind this move. The pensioners will continue to receive their pensions without any disruptions anyway, and with the reduction in spending during this MCO, we really wonder why the need to allocate another RM500 for them?
And bear in mind, there are pensioners who receive a higher amount of pension based on the position when they left their jobs, including those who are receiving RM10,000 in pensions if they were previously from the senior managements. Why the need to give them as well?
The RM500 is to be given to 850,000 of pensioners, which amounts to RM425 million. That money could be channeled to help the private sector. It is a relieve to know at least that this RM500 is a one-off initiative paid only in the month of April, and not for several months.
It is hoped that the government will improve upon this stimulus package by taking into consideration the various voices of the public sector, especially those under SME category.
Datuk Mustapa Mohamad, the Minister in the Prime Minister's department said in an interview on Sunday that improvements need to be made to address the grievances of the private sector, and he himself will meet with representatives of the private sector, before bringing the matter to the Prime Minister's Office. I hope that the government will seriously look into this.
The Economic Plan.
RM100 billion was allocated for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), however the allocation for this is not considered sufficient.
Employers will receive a subsidy of RM600 for the payment of salaries for employees below the salary of RM4000. Meaning to say for an employee with a salary of RM2500, employers will only need to pay RM1900, and the rest will be covered by the government. Although this sounds great, which it is, it is not enough. Employers also many staff to pay, so RM600 is not adequate. They also have staff who have wages above RM4000, and they have to be paid in full.
Employers also have not the option to cut any staff's salaries or retrench anyone, which puts employers in a corner, since this reduces the option for the employers to save the company, which has faced high amount of losses in sales. This is made worse by the fact that employers still need to pay for rental (which many landlord are not willing to compromise) as well as high corporate taxes.
Moreover, this is coupled with the fact that employees themselves are already receiving the one-off assistance from the Economic Plan, as well as other assistance such as deferment of loan payments for the next six months, so it is not to say that employees will receive nothing if they do not receive the full salary from employers. In order to assist employers who are also ordinary Malaysians, without forcing them to go bankrupt, the government should extend more assistance in terms of aids such as increasing the subsidy for employees, or give the choice for employers to cut salaries BUT increasing the assistance in the one-off payment.
Employers are given other aids but it is in terms of low-interest loans, such as the RM4.5 billion stated in the plan for small and medium enterprises. The issue is not all companies would be prepared or willing to engage in taking up more loans for themselves. This is a business decision depending on the companies themselves.
Government could also mull on the idea of taking up the responsibility of payment for EPF from the company. This could greatly help the companies.
RM500 for pensioners?
With all due respect to the pensioners who have contributed a good part of their life to the services of the public sector, I do not see the rationale behind this move. The pensioners will continue to receive their pensions without any disruptions anyway, and with the reduction in spending during this MCO, we really wonder why the need to allocate another RM500 for them?
And bear in mind, there are pensioners who receive a higher amount of pension based on the position when they left their jobs, including those who are receiving RM10,000 in pensions if they were previously from the senior managements. Why the need to give them as well?
The RM500 is to be given to 850,000 of pensioners, which amounts to RM425 million. That money could be channeled to help the private sector. It is a relieve to know at least that this RM500 is a one-off initiative paid only in the month of April, and not for several months.
It is hoped that the government will improve upon this stimulus package by taking into consideration the various voices of the public sector, especially those under SME category.
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