Chong tells state govt to focus on saving jobs not election

KUCHING: The state government should make saving jobs and businesses their top priority instead of focusing on state elections, says state Democratic Action Party ( DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen.

In a statement yesterday, he said that the state government had allocated less than RM200 million for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Sarawak, which was “grossly insufficient”.

“This is grossly insufficient given the rampage and devastation that Covid-19 has wreaked on the state’s economy. With the end of the moratorium on bank loan repayments starting October, the economy will suffer yet another setback as more businesses and individuals will have to start repaying loans.

“This will have an adverse domino effect on our economy, as the disposable income of our people will be very much curtailed by their obligation to repay loans while internal demand drops, businesses slow down and more people will lose their jobs,” Chong said.

He also noted that the wage subsidy provided by the federal government was almost reaching its end, which would further exacerbate the economy.

“Many of those businesses which have received wage subsidy in the months of April until June have since July not received such subsidy anymore. With the implementation of targetted wage subsidy starting Oct 1 until the end of the year, many more will not receive any wage subsidy.

“This, coupled with the obligation to repay loans, will force many businesses to either reduce their workforce or even close down their businesses. The worst is yet to come,” Chong stressed.

Thus, he said it was incumbent upon the state government to step forward to provide wage subsidy to the SMEs, which form the backbone of the state’s economy and the bulk of employment opportunities.

“While the national wage subsidy for three months was estimated to be RM5 billion, the same programme can be implemented with a budget of RM500 million for Sarawak.

“This is not a heavy burden on the state government. With the recent RM2.9 billion oil tax money (sic) and the RM31 billion reserve, it is incomprehensible that the state government still refuses to provide wage subsidy to the SMEs in the state.

“There is no point to keep the money in the bank while businesses suffer and the economy nosedives,” Chong said.

He added that there was no point for the state government to keep “shouting” about having a lot of reserves while the people live on the brink of poverty and businesses barely survive.