A FRESH round of financial aid and a new team to handle Covid-19 pandemic are two measures that are urgently needed to alleviate the burden of the people as the country is set to go into full lockdown from June 1, said economist Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid.

In an article published in Sinar Harian today, Muhammed said the government should offer full financial assistance to the people, especially the self-employed, small and medium enterprises, and those in the bottom 40 and middle 40 groups.

“It has been a year since Covid-19 (started) and many have depleted their savings. Let’s not forget that people took out their EPF savings with RM80 billion in withdrawals and they have postponed the repayment of their loans via the RM150 billion loan moratorium,” he said.

He said the amount of withdrawals and the moratorium were far more than the fiscal injection by the government which only amounted to RM72 billion earlier this year.

“I would like to propose for the government to give the self-employed and households in the B40 and M40 group a monthly aid of RM1,500 for three months,” he said.

He also called on the government to continue with the wage subsidy programme for small and medium enterprises and a three-month automatic loan moratorium for repayment on loans.

“The bank will not go bust. The fact is not one bank recorded losses last year despite the moratorium on loans,” he said.

The DM Analytics managing director also dismissed Bank Negara Malaysia’s statement that a moratorium on repayment of loans as not being the best solution.

“What is the use of economic growth when every day several Malaysians are dying and thousands are living under constant pressure and worry that they will not be able to support their family,” he said.

The adviser to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said economic recovery was pointless if lives were lost.

“The excuse that the government does not have enough funds to help the people is shallow and cruel. The government can borrow,” Muhammed said, adding that national debt was below the ceiling of 60% of the GDP.

He said the government had resorted to borrowing in the 1980s during an economic crisis when unemployment was also high. However, it did not take long to reduce the debts once the economy recovered.

“It is better to borrow and save the people than to keep the money when the people are suffering and dying. Does our government care?” he asked.

His second suggestion was for a smart and intrepid team to lead the country in handling the pandemic.

“Unfortunately, the current team has failed to run the country,” he added.

Muhammed questioned why the number of cases and deaths have increased by four and five folds respectively since the emergency declaration on January 12.

“How can we leave it just like that when we were repeatedly told that Parliament was suspended to reduce the number of cases and deaths,” he said.

He also drew reference to the National Operations Council (Mageran) during former prime minister Tun Abdul Razak’s era, which was established in 1969 following the May 13 racial riots.

He said the council only had 10 people, unlike the 72-member cabinet today.

He said the 10 members had successfully stabilised the country in a short period of time and had only established two committees – namely the economic committee and the national consultative council.

Muhammed said the reason the move was successful was because Abdul Razak had taken an open and inclusive approach, unlike the current leaders who are isolating themselves and not consulting the public and experts.

He also added that Mageran held its meetings in Parliament.

Therefore, he said a new team like Mageran was required to handle the health and economic crisis and to ensure check and balances.

For that to take place Parliament must reconvene, he said.

He said the team must be dissolved once the mandate is fulfilled. – May 30, 2021.