Huazong calls for unified SOP
KOTA KINABALU: The government should enhance coordination among its departments and agencies, and to come out with a unified standard operating procedure (SOP) for all economic and business sectors, including those which are currently still being suspended, to resume operations, said Tan Sri T.C Goh, president of The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong).
“With our country now steadily moving towards economic recovery, there should be no multiple or different systems for the businesses to comply with, as this would inevitably create unnecessary confusions and inconveniences,” he said.
Goh noted that such a disarray and inconvenience was evident when the Federal Government started to allow more economic activities to resume in stages, as announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on May 4, because some state governments refused to cooperate.
He pointed out that the two common scenarios were, businesses permitted to resume operations by the Federal Government were further delayed by the state governments.
Some businesses are still being suspended until today; while in some cases, businesses were allowed to resume operations but, there were differences in the SOPs issued by the Federal Government and the state governments.
He cited for examples, such contradictions and confusions existed in the SOP for reopening of such sectors like, the morning and night markets, gaming/4D outlets, number of people allowed per table for dining in at eateries, recreational and sports clubs, and also ambiguity in the government’s latest announcement on Sunday, whether the approval for the non-Muslim marriage registration included those facilitated by the Chinese clan associations. In a statement yesterday, Goh, who is also the president of
The Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS), underscored that the SOPs which were carefully formulated by the Ministry of Health and the relevant government agencies which were approved by the National Security Council for various economic sectors to reopen, should be duly accepted and supported by the state governments.
“This is appropriate and necessary, in order to allow the various businesses which were devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Movement Control Order (MCO), could resume their operations without further delay, so that they could start to generate the much-needed revenues for them to pull through,” he stressed.
He also proposed that the state governments or local authorities concerned to promptly and professionally engage with the affected economic sectors/businesses, if they think there was a need for them to make improvements or adjustments to the SOP issued by the Federal Government. Goh believed such a pragmatic approach would result in a ‘win-win’ situation for all quarters.
He hoped that similar to the manner they had helped the people and the business sector to better cope with the devastating impact of Covid-19 pandemic and MCO, through the introduction of a series of economic stimulus packages, both the Federal and state governments could now also pay urgent attention to the various pressing issues facing the business sector to relaunch their operations, during this crucial period of economic recovery.