DAILY wage earners are finding little comfort in the one-off cash aid the government is giving for the total lockdown, after a year of movement controls due to Covid-19 that has hurt their income.

Whatever is being offered is hardly enough to cover the needs of saw machine operator P. Marcus Gunalan, who works at a wood factory in Benta, Pahang.

He has no income during the lockdown days but still has payments to make, especially for his three children who are still studying.

“Our salary is paid by the day and when there is no work for 14 days, almost half the usual salary is gone,” said the 48-year-old, whose oldest child is in university, another in Form 6 and the youngest in Form 3.

“Although the classes are online, the materials must be purchased and it is still an expense for us,” he said.

The family now depends on his wife who works as a clerk.

Marcus said he felt vulnerable as his employer told him he is not eligible for Social Security Organisation (Socso) protection.

“I’ve had to plead with charity organisations in my area for help to pay my personal and home loan instalments,” he added.

Low-income households like Marcus qualify for the one-off cash aid under the government’s latest stimulus package for the total lockdown that began on June 1, but it is barely enough given the backlog of payments and the unpredictability of the pandemic.

RM2.1 billion will be distributed under the Permerkasa Plus package to lower-income households earning less than RM5,000 per month, working out to payments of RM300 or RM500, depending on household income, and RM100 for singles earning below RM2,500 a month.

What wage earners want is just to be able to keep working, as it gives them security and control over their income.

But the total lockdown, until June 14, has made this impossible for those who are in non-essential sectors.

Even those allowed to continue business, such as small trader Zanita Mat Ali who makes and sells traditional cakes in Pasir Pekan, Kelantan, said her delicacies have gone to waste during the lockdown, as people aren’t buying.

The 49-year-old said people fear going out, and her income has been affected.

“I’m only making four types of cakes (to reduce costs), namely buah tanjong, tahi itik, jala emas and sekaya telur, and I distribute them to two stalls.

“Before the lockdown, I was distributing my cakes to seven shops who were my regular clients. But during Ramadan this year, I didn’t make good sales either.”

Her 10-year-old family-run business supports her daughter, son-in-law and her two grandsons.

“I hope that Covid-19 would end soon so that traders, especially small traders like us, can return to business.

“I also hope that the government can provide appropriate assistance to the affected traders so that we can continue to survive,” Zanita said.

Taxi driver Moses Raman said the government’s cash aid is just a small fraction of income lost and is impossible to cover monthly rental for his taxi, his biggest cost.

The 53-year-old from Klang is thinking about getting a part-time job, as income has dropped since the first movement-control order (MCO 1.0) last year.

“My income has dropped 60% since MCO 1.0 and now, the total lockdown has pulled it lower to 70% because we could only transport one people at a time and there are many roadblocks.

“We are not receiving good financial help from the government because the RM500 is not even sufficient to pay our taxi rental of RM600 per month,” he said.

Moses was referring to the RM500 one-off special cash aid Putrajaya is providing for 17,000 tour guides, 40,000 taxi drivers, 11,000 school bus drivers, 4,000 express bus drivers and 62,000 e-hailing drivers.

This financial aid, totalling RM68 million, will be transferred to registered recipients in July.

The one-off RM500 aid is welcomed, said Malaysian Bumiputera Tourist Guides Association treasurer Shahril Harun, but what tour guides want is work.

If there is no work, there should be continuous financial assistance for a few months, he added.

“Although there are grants or subsidies of various forms, there is no point if the tourism sector does not work.

“During this period, one should be assisted for six months continuously so that the tour guides can find another route.

“And people like us, the B40s (bottom 40% income group) who have been in this tourism industry for 30 to 40 years, are not able to change our profession easily due to age and other factors,” said Shahril.

The type of work many wage earners do also does not lend them a strong voice to lobby for more help or the means to make a fresh start.

Van driver V. Punithan said people in his job had no one to “fight for them”.

“We don’t have an association to fight for us in this sector where the rich can survive and start a new business,” said the 45-year-old Perak resident.

Punithan, who drives a van for a factory, said many factories in his area have gone out of business since MCO 1.0 last year.

The government may have prepared aid and assistance such as a three-month loan moratorium for B40 borrowers, those who have lost jobs and who have had reduced incomes, but Punithan did not feel confident someone like him would qualify for such aid.

“Instalments for my van are overdue, and as for the loan moratorium, I’m not sure if I can pass (get approval) or not.” – June 7, 2021.