Chang urges S’wak govt to come up with wage subsidy programme

SIBU: Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang has called on the state government to provide a wage subsidy programme of at least 50 per cent for at least six months to assist the employers of qualified small and medium enterprise (SMEs) in the state.

Chang said this state wage subsidy programme should be on top of the current Federal Wage Subsidy Programme (WSP 3.0), which was not sufficient for the SMEs to stay afloat amidst the Covid-19 pandemic while maintaining their employees.

She said the state government should also grant a 30 per cent rental subsidy to qualified SME tenants of commercial, industrial and office proprieties for at least six months to help them cope with rental costs.

As for other economic sectors such as spa, gyms, reflexologies, pubs and karaoke, which are still not allowed to resume operations, she said a rental subsidy of at least 70 per cent should be provided for at least six months, or at least until they are allowed to reopen.

“I urge the state government to urgently help our small businesses and to stimulate our state economy as the longer the economic impact from Covid-19 continues, the more risk these sectors would face.

“This in turn would lead to the collapse of our state economy as SMEs are the backbone of our economy,” she said in a statement yesterday.

Chang said the Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) 5.0 package which was rolled out by the state government in February this year to help the SMEs to overcome the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, does not address the main concerns of these SMEs particularly paying the salaries of their employees, premise rentals and business loans.

Since the onset of the pandemic last year, and especially since the beginning of this year, she said a lot of local SMEs have closed down and many employees have lost their jobs.