by NUR HANANI AZMAN

SOME of the existing multinational companies could be making unfavourable decisions on relocating their operations out of Malaysia as a result of the lockdown extension, said the Federation of Manufacturers Malaysia (FMM).

FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said, this is due to the fact that the global economy is picking up but their Malaysian operations are unable to support the increasing demand as part of their supply chain.

“It is therefore crucial that the government re-evaluate the sectors that are allowed to operate with due consideration given to the export- based sectors that have been sustaining our economy through their revenue earnings to the nation, source of employment to the locals as well as substantial source of direct investments,” Soh said in a statement yesterday.

Previously, Soh urged the government to move into the phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) as businesses, especially the non-essential manufacturers have suffered during the lockdown period.

FMM also questioned the justification of the three indicators such as the average number of cases which must to drop to below 4,000 cases before the country can transition to Phase 2 of the NRP.

Soh said it is important that this threshold is backed scientifically and is data- based as there are concerns that even after a four-week lockdown, the number of cases remain high which indicates that a full lockdown might not be the best solution.

“Instead, the industry proposes that the government considers state or area specific lockdowns targeted at the highest number of infections to break the chain of infections.

“To minimise the impact on both the industry and economy, states/areas where the cases are lower and under control should be allowed to operate without any distinction between essential and non-essential sectors,” he added.

In addition, he believes the government should also look at increasing the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity instead of waiting for the ICU bed use to reduce to moderate levels.

“FMM also wishes to reiterate that factories are not the main source of Covid-19 cases despite the continuous blame of workplace clusters. We note that out of the 662, 457 cumulative positive cases reported on June 14, 2021, only 147,040 were from workplace clusters of which 95,156 were from manufacturing.

“The low figure of 14.36% (95,156/662,457) shows that factory clusters are not the major source of infections. In addition, it is evident from data released by the Ministry of Health that 398,846 of the total 578,105 or 69% of Covid-19 cases recorded this year until June 19, 2021 were sporadic cases,” he said.

The industry also appeals for the enforcement agencies to be more coordinated with their spot checks and raids on factories so as not to cause undue disruption to company operations.

Factories have to face multiple raids by different enforcement agencies who also have different interpretations of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and Ministry of International Trade and Industry’s approvals.

Faulting industries on minor issues on SOPs and imposing fines and business closure is also not acceptable.

There is continuous fear amongst the SMEs especially on enforcement raids and fines despite them having approvals and all SOPs in place.

Greater emphasis and focus should be placed by the authorities on containing the sporadic cases which is the main cause of the spike in infection cases recently.