‘Allowing companies to operate during MCO a balance between public health, economic sustainability’

KUCHING: The Sarawak government should consider allowing local manufacturers to operate during the current Movement Control Order (MCO) period.

In suggesting this, Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) Sarawak chairman Victor Hii says it is all about balancing the focus on public health with the need for economic sustainability.

He believes that through the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), the Sarawak government should consider allowing manufacturers approved by Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to continue their operations with 50 per cent of total workforce.

“Currently, around 20 per cent of FMM members in Sarawak have already been approved by MITI,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas had said recently that industries that received MITI approval during Phase IV of the MCO, must also obtain the greenlight from the state government before they could run their operations.

In this regard, Hii said companies wishing to operate with 100-per cent workforce during the MCO should be allowed on a case-by-case basis.

For those in the non-essential sectors, he suggested that they should also be allowed to operate – but with 30 to 50 per cent of their overall workforce.

Hii said should these proposals be accepted, it would ensure that companies in Sarawak, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), could survive this challenging period while keeping unemployment rate low.

He also stressed the importance of allowing manufacturing operations in Sarawak to resume concurrently, given the ‘inter-linkages’ between companies; stopping all work in certain districts would lead to a disruption in the chain of supply of goods and services, and would also affect people’s livelihood.

Nonetheless, Hii also advocated for factories to be operated under a very controlled environment, where the employers must see to it that everyone would adhere strictly to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) on social distancing, sanitisation, disinfection of workspace, as well as the daily temperature and health checks.

“With strict SOPs in place, employers would be able to detect any abnormal case early and have them tested and treated immediately, as well as to provide contact-tracing details of the affected workers to the authorities.”

Hii added that FMM would continue to impress upon all participating industries to recognise the ‘new normal’ the conduct of any business going forward, ‘especially on the strict need to continue observing the Covid-19 precautionary measures, stipulated in the SOP for operations’.

Adding on, he said manufacturers should implement the ‘Business Continuity Planning’ including expanding flexible work arrangements, maintaining social distancing and other policies that would allow people to work remotely and safely, as this would help in effective implementation of the relevant SOPs.

“Once the MCO is totally lifted, the state government could formulate an exit strategy where companies could go back to operating with 100 per cent workforce, but with strict adherence to the SOPs,” he added.