LETTER | Maybe this is the response to our Covid-19 situation?

LETTER | Over the past 16 months or so, we have seen how our authorities have dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic. To the best of my memory, perhaps RM700 billion or more has been spent by the government to counter the novel coronavirus.

However, there was hardly anything “novel” with those initiatives. In fact, most were a cause for concern and stirred unhappiness among the rakyat. Frankly, I have been least impressed by the often knee-jerk response the establishment proffered.

So here’s what I think can be done to address the worsening situation in the near term. In the long term, I believe, say hello to Covid-19 being a permanent feature in our lives. Learn to co-exist will be the mantra by 2023.

To avoid making it political or complicated, I’ve not pontificated on the merits of each proposal. You are free to agree, expand, or disagree with my views. I’ve encaptioned my thoughts broadly as follows:

Food and survival response

We know the hardest hit is the B40 group (bottom 40 percent of income earners), and now, many M40 may very well fall into the B40 if this “no work/business” situation prolongs. Let's:

• Set up temporary food banks in areas where the B40 is situated. These food banks will be fully funded by the government. For outlying areas (especially in remote areas), set up mobile food banks – either on wheels or water transport. Those affected can come (one person only) to these centres to collect their survival provision.
• Where practical, use the various delivery agencies (like Grab, Foodpanda, and so on) to also assist in the delivery of these sundries. This will also help to minimise the need for our people to travel out of their homes.

Hopefully, with the basic food and survival issues taken care of, there will be fewer suicides. The main concern for the B40 is survival – and we can eradicate this concern while they are not working.

Medical assistance

Again it is the B40 and other less well-heeled persons who are the most handicapped. So let's:

• Set up stand-alone vaccination centres in strategic areas so that instead of having our people line up for hours at the very few centres the government has now, our folks can pop into the centres and have their jabs with proper documentation similar to a “drive-in” concept. This has been very successful in Singapore.
• Where the population is really rural (especially in East Malaysia), do the same via mobile (car, train, or water transportation) vaccination centres - we will come to you if you can’t come to us.
• Allow private enterprises to do the same (especially for their own employees) so they can be a partner to the government’s efforts and speed up the vaccination process. I’m sure most private enterprises will support this initiative so they can re-open their businesses.
• To incentivise them, let these enterprises claim a tax rebate for costs they incur. There is no real “cost” to the government because it also saves on the (free) vaccines otherwise. Imagine the revenues it would gain from income tax when most of these enterprises are allowed to operate as normal.

With a wider distribution of vaccination centres, the entire population can be vaccinated faster than the current progress. IT will be business back as usual even faster.

Allow all businesses to operate with strict SOPs

If the above procedures are followed, there is no need to have confusing rules to determine which business is deemed essential. There is so much confusion with the current implementation.

• Businesses and outlets with a large “gathering” propensity should remain closed like places of worship, stadiums, and so on. But if these businesses can show their establishments complied fully with the SOPs, there is no harm allowing them to operate with reduced numbers.
• Contact sports and “people-friendly” businesses can only operate if they too have complied with strict SOPs. Dining in, in my opinion, is perfectly allowable if limited to two or three per table with SOPs. We have not heard of a “pub” cluster.

Boost the services/SME sectors

One of the main gripes presently is that this government has “killed” many businesses with its “start/stop/maybe” directives. So instead of confusion reigning, let’s do these:

• To help the government implement the “mobile” part of the initiatives above, it can enlist the help of various delivery app providers like Grab, Lalamove, GoGet, and others. Imagine the volume of additional business these companies can garner if the government’s delivery mechanism can be outsourced to them.
• For example, MyEG has been doing this for several years already and there is no problem in assigning the same to other delivery agents. Frankly, they can do it faster than the government can. Best of all, the government makes its money from the taxes it can collect from them instead of shutting down the services/manufacturing industry.
• Instead of allowing the civil service to operate at a reduced capacity during the MCO, the government can redeploy many of them to partake in the activities above. For example, making them man the mobile vaccination centres and do the delivery services. With a little incentive, everybody is engaged in a “win-win” activity instead of an unproductive “remotely working” situation like now.
• If we had an app/Artificial Intelligence mechanism to monitor all the above – surely the IT industry too will benefit in developing and deploying various initiatives – again, the government stands to gain from the taxation aspect alone.

Frontliner - Medical & Support services:

It is undeniable that frontliners (private and public) and the entire medical and medical support industries have been under tremendous pressure from the start of this pandemic. So to alleviate the pain in this sector, I propose the following:

• All frontliners to be given an additional 15 days paid vacation a year to be taken at appropriate intervals in their career. This will allow them to recover from the extreme fatigue faced by them during this pandemic. A healthy doctor is better for all of us.
• All frontliners to enjoy free medical treatment for their entire family if they are afflicted with Covid-19 at any time during their service. This is the least we can do to show gratitude.
• All frontliners to be given priority in the receipt of blood and plasma as the situation arises. We can expand the benefits accordingly.

Foreign workers

One of those badly hit by the pandemic are the foreign workers. Most factories have been shut and as a result, many are in dire circumstances. There have been reported suicides. If my proposals are accepted, we can do these:

• Have all foreign workers vaccinated as a priority. Those vaccinated can be deployed to assist in the proposals above. So, if their factories are shut, they will have some income to tide them over. I don’t think they will complain if we gave them an alternate way to earn an income. Sure beats dying from starvation.
• If we set up the food banks as I’d suggested, we’d need people to cook, pack, and deliver the food. We already have a large foreign workforce, why not use this gift to our advantage. Everybody wins by this measure.

Civil service and ministers

I think the rakyat's consensus is that these groups (except those falling in the frontline and “working” ministers categories), for the bulk of it, most of them have not been working during the shut down.

Even when the government mandated that between 20-30 percent should be working remotely, most of them have been “remotely” working. It’s been an extended paid holiday for many. For these groups, I propose:

• All be redeployed to help out in the manning and distribution vaccine and food programmes as proposed earlier.
• A deduction of ministers’ salary (backdated to the beginning of the MCO) by 40 percent until the emergency/MCO is lifted for good. Let’s face it, many have not really been working.
• All civil service (for those earning RM5,000 and above) incentives given previously, to be withdrawn/clawed-back and all increments be frozen for another two years. I think the rakyat will agree that at least 50 percent of our bloated civil service has not been working during this pandemic.
• Pensioners (drawing a pension of above RM5,000) who received incentives before, be also subject to the proposal above. I cannot see why this category needs to enjoy the fruits of a failed policy when thousands of people are starving.

Export sector

While the authorities say we will likely register a 4.5 percent growth in GDP this year, I find it hard to believe when businesses have been shut for the better part of the year to date. Ask any SME, they are expecting a fall of up to 40 percent in their business this year.

Even the big producers (gas, oil, electricity) are bracing for the “knock-on” effects of the worsening public spending. Here’s what we can do:

• Subject to SOPs being followed, open up all sectors that are solely in the export business like palm oil, electronics, and such.
• Consider reducing income taxes/levies on their production if these companies export 50 percent or more of their sales.
• Consider reducing/removing the input taxes on the materials they use in their export-oriented production. This will encourage them to produce more (perhaps keeping their workforce employed too).

Financial sector

I’ve yet to hear of a big bank “suffering” from the pandemic situation. So here’s my proposal:

• All banks in the country to contribute to a Covid-19 Cess of RM10,000 per RM1,000,000 of their past year’s profits.
• All new recruitment shall be done from those who were retrenched as a result of Covid caused circumstances. This must be made a law so all those who are hard hit have an edge in being hired first than those who are not.
• All banks will be required to lend, as a priority, to the businesses hit badly by Covid caused reasons. Again, this must be made law until the pandemic is over.

Income tax by necessity

Now, this is going to be the least popular proposal because it will affect the pockets of the well-off. Let’s be honest, for those still earning RM25,000 per month and above, you really have not felt what the B40 has. Yes, many of us have been also donating and helping out in various forms. Let “karma” take care of you in heaven but on earth, why not:

• A temporary additional income tax of RM500 per person if your annual tax payable is RM20,000 or more. This can be on a graduated scale so that it doesn’t burden the lower category of taxpayers.
• An additional Covid tax of RM10,000 on those earning RM1,000,000 per annum or more – on a graduated scale as above.
• A super profit tax (in addition to the above) of RM100,000 on anyone earning RM5,000,000 per annum or more.

Let’s be honest, these additional taxes will not kill you. But the additional revenues the government makes will go towards feeding our brothers and sisters who are crying and/or dying.