PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyddin Yassin has been asked to put a plan on the table for each Ministry and Minister to propose how various sectors of the economy can open up safely subject to certain enhanced standard operating procedures (SOP).
This plan must be put on the table by the end of this week and the economy must be allowed to open up by July 5, subject to enhanced SOPs, Bangi MP Dr Ong Kian Ming said today.
“It does not make sense, for example, to have shops selling laptops and handphones remain closed while workers are asked to work from home and kids are asked to learn from home,” he said in a statement.
“What happens when our electronic devices break down or we need to get new devices to replace old ones?”
At the same time, enhanced SOP including strict testing procedures and protocols must be implemented at the factories and construction sites because these are where the new clusters are taking place, he said.
Ong asked the government to subsidise these testing measures especially for the SMEs in the manufacturing sector which has been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The government needs to make another U-turn on the announced policy of only opening up the economy further when the number of cases drop below 4,000. If not, many more businesses will collapse and die. And the human misery and suffering will be increased significantly beyond what is already happening now,” he added.
