Business unusual
How to live and work in a pandemic environment
TOMORROW, when the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) comes into effect, will be a test for Malaysians if they are on the safe or sorry side of the Covid-19 equation. The choice is for businesses and people to make. The government could have held on to its Movement Control Order (MCO), but because of the cry for help from businessmen, it decided to allow almost all sectors of the economy to resume operations. Balancing lives and livelihood isn’t an easy choice, even for a government. But there is a caveat here, and a very heavy responsibility to be shouldered by the businessmen, employees and customers. Standard operating procedure (SOP) that comes with the CMCO must be adhered to. If anyone from the three classes of people fails in his responsibility, he puts the lives of the rest of Malaysians at risk. Blaming the government then for imposing an Enhanced Movement Control Order or a lockdown will be like crying over spilt milk. What’s worse, there won’t be another cow to milk.
We have reasons to worry. One, even before the almost allsystems-go, some restaurants, retail outlets and even pharmacies were seen flouting the MCO’s Covid-19 protocols. A 1m shoe line is there, but customers didn’t toe the line. Business owners or employees didn’t seem to care either. Come CMCO, there may just be a deluge of apathy. People serving food weren’t wearing masks, and hand sanitiser and soap were absent. Which means, the frequent washing of hands remains a mere public service announcement. Businessmen such as these are being penny wise, pound foolish.
Two, the Malaysian Employers Federation’s (MEF) recent statements to the media about its concern that the government’s SOP may affect its members’ business is alarming, to say the least. Is it asking for a waiver of the SOP or a relaxation of it so that cost can be kept low? What about the cost to lives, MEF? MEF will do the country a service like what other employer associations have done by advising its members to follow the SOP to the letter. Or preferably, tell MEF members to not resume if they are not prepared to follow the SOP. Better to be safe than sorry.
Employers, employees and customers will do well in not replicating the disaster that befell Hokkaido, Japan. Why Hokkaido? Because it had the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the country when an emergency was declared on Feb 28. Being the disciplined people the Japanese are, they did what was told. Things improved and weeks later, the emergency order was lifted. Normalcy returned but someone somewhere unJapanese-like let apathy in. A second wave hit Hokkaido, a “déjà flu” in the words of The Economist, and the region is still under emergency. Two emergencies in two months isn’t what anyone — businessmen or otherwise — is prepared for. We must not let a Hokkaido happen here. Here is how not to. All employers, without exception, must accept that this is not business as usual. This means accepting the SOP as a new cost of doing business. And breaching it will be an additional cost, which may include being put out of business. Businessmen have a choice. They can opt in and follow the SOP or wait out until Covid-19 disappears. For the latter, we have some very bad news. It will be, and ill-advisedly at that, a wait for never.
Employers, employees and customers will do well in not replicating the disaster that befell Hokaido, Japan.