A SELF-PROCLAIMED ‘Malay-Muslim government’ charging unreasonable moratorium interest (read: riba) payment for Islamic financing? Oh, the irony.

Bank Negara’s sneaky press release regarding changes to the moratorium yesterday caught everyone by surprise.

Reinstating interest charges to hire-purchase loans and fixed-rate Islamic financing is simply put, not in the interests of the rakyat as a whole.

Well, if you are well-versed in the financial and banking sector, you would know that this decision is inevitable given the disastrous effect of a six-month moratorium aimed at our banking industry.

However, this ‘U-turn’ by the government certainly came to a shock to Mak Cik Kiah, Haji Salleh and millions of other ordinary Malaysians coming into the 44th day of the movement control order (MCO).

Sadly, for most, yesterday was also the 44th day without employment or income.

The question arises then: why did the government decree a six-month moratorium as part of the Prihatin economic stimulus package in the first place?

Haven’t they carried out a proper study on the adverse effects on banks, which could lead to a domino effect on their capacity to finance operational costs across the entire business?

This incompetence is made the more bewildering given that our finance minister is a technocrat with decades-long experience in the banking industry itself. Why didn’t Tengku Zafrul Tengku Aziz voice his concerns during the cabinet meeting in which the stimulus package was crafted?

Or did his warnings fall on the deaf ears of a prime minister eager for a populist policy to validate his dubious rise to power?

Perhaps the prime minister was too busy appointing minister-level ambassadors to foreign countries to notice how his populist decisions are not compatible with reality.

So, what would the next course of action be?

This latest ‘U-turn’ by the government creates quite a conundrum for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on whether to prioritise the rakyat or the banks.

Regardless of whether it is a ‘banks first, rakyat second’ policy or the opposite, if we were to base our judgement on how the Perikatan Nasional MPs are demanding positions during this crisis, one thing is for certain: the only economy they care about is the economy of their own personal gain. – May 1, 2020.

* Jamie Saifu reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.