THE ongoing chaos surrounding which companies are allowed to operate under the total lockdown is not new.

Although Malaysia has been through three lockdowns since the pandemic began, the Perikatan Nasional government appears unsure of the standard operating procedures (SOP) or which ministries are responsible for the respective business sectors.

There are 32 ministries but not all govern businesses.

Yet, more interesting than that is how the current fiasco really began with former prime minister Najib Razak’s Facebook post after the government announced that it will implement a total lockdown starting June 1.

Najib, who is part of the Perikatan Nasional government, had urged the government not to let Minister of International Trade and Industry Mohamed Azmin Ali have the final say on which companies are allowed to operate.

“Azmin cannot be given veto powers to add certain factories to the list to stop them lobbying the minister,” said the Pekan MP.

Najib’s post came after Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on May 28 that only businesses listed as essential services would be allowed to operate.

Following Najib’s post, the National Security Council (NSC) then decentralised the application process to nine ministries, chief of which was the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.

The ministries were expected to process authorisation letters for the 17 ‘essential’ service sectors two days before the lockdown began on June 1, but with little time to prepare, the ministries were unable to cope with the thousands of applications, resulting in the domestic trade ministry’s website crashing on the first day of full MCO 3.0.

This was quickly followed by the instruction that approvals should be obtained from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry-run CIMS system, based on confirmations from the relevant ministries.

The authorities added to the confusion by saying they would not recognise previous Miti approvals, only to backtrack and say the old approvals will be recognised until June 3.

The police had then said they would recognise approvals from other ministries too.

Adding to this, several businesses not considered essential services had also obtained Miti approval to operate.

This has now resulted in letters of approval issued through CIMS to 128,150 companies, covering 1.57 million workers nationwide.

A total of 586,308 companies and 10.2 million workers have registered with the Miti-run CIMS.

This has led many to question the government’s “total lockdown”, pointing out this now seemed to be a “partial lockdown”.

Faced with criticism over the lagging CIMS system, approval delays and even questions as to what kind of total lockdown the government was implementing when so many approvals were issued, Azmin deflected by saying a number of ministries were responsible for approving travel permits for companies and workers in essential businesses under their respective jurisdictions.

While this issue is still being sorted, Covid-19 cases continue to soar. Malaysia yesterday recorded 8,209 cases with the Klang Valley (Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya) making up 25% of the cases.

Malaysia’s largest economy, Selangor, recorded 3,125 cases, breaching the 3,000-mark for the first time since the pandemic.

Here’s a look at some of the business U-turns since the first MCO began in 2020

March 16, 2020: Muhyiddin announced the first MCO from March 18-31. The MCO was extended till May 3 before it is replaced by the conditional MCO.

March 21, 2020: Confusion arises as many companies that support the essential services are unable to operate.

April 13, 2020: Miti website crashes on the first day of applications for businesses to operate during CMCO. Main applicants are from the manufacturing sector.

June 10, 2020: CMCO is replaced by RMCO till Aug 31.

January 11, 2021: Government announces MCO by state till May 31.

January 12: Miti says car factories cannot operate in MCO states.

January 16: Miti allows all car factories to operate.

May 10: Muhyiddin announces MCO from May 12-June 7, while allowing all sectors of the economy to continue operating.

May 28: Muhyiddin announces total lockdown from June 1 to June 14 as Covid-19 cases rise. Only essential services allowed to operate.

May 29: Najib tells government not to give Azmin veto powers on which companies can operate.

May 30: Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob says Miti approval letters to expire on May 31. All companies that want to operate during full MCO 3.0 must reapply for approvals under nine ministries.

May 31: Domestic Trade Ministry website crashes due to overwhelming number of applications with the majority coming from mini markets, sundry shops, petty traders, restaurants, etc

June 1: Police say Miti letters valid until June 3, while the National Security Council U-turns and redirects applications back to Miti.

June 3: Bernama reports that 128,150 out of 586,308 companies (1.57 million out of 10.2 million workers) approved to remain operational.

June 3: Azmin hits back to say his ministry is not solely responsible for approving all operating and travel permits, with other ministries similarly accountable. – June 4, 2021.