CALLS for the National Recovery Council (NRC) to be disbanded will be a setback to the government’s efforts to revive the national economy post-Covid-19. 

NRC member Hartini Zainudin said the council has been playing its role by putting forward proposals and complementing various government initiatives. 

“The KPI (key performance indicator) of the council is to ensure that we do the best in complementing what other initiatives are carried out by the government),” she told a press conference yesterday. 

“Everybody has a role to play, and everybody is moving to make sure we recover quicker than we need to.

“What we’ve done is, we have made suggestions when the borders should open, we are looking at tourism, the economy and so many other things. We divided our focus into pillars, in the economy, education, small and middle enterprises.”

Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had before this called for the NRC to be abolished, saying that its functions were unclear and unneeded. 

Zahid, who is also Umno president, opined that the NRC’s functions overlap with the roles played by think tanks and other government agencies that act as advisers and implementation bodies. 

Hartini, however, said efforts to restore the country post-Covid-19 are expected to take 10 years and this task could prove difficult if it is only carried out by a single body, regardless if it is a political party, sector or organisation.

On the welfare of Malaysians, Hartini, a child activist who co-founded the Yayasan Chow Kit child-crisis centre, said welfare issues must be given prominent focus, especially since many B40 people affected by inflation and the Covid-19 pandemic have found themselves in the B60 category. 

“Following recommendations in a National Recovery Council meeting last year, Yayasan Hasanah went into collaboration with Yayasan Chow Kit to provide emergency food aid to the needy with the help of four civil society groups, including the Malaysian Red Crescent Society and Yayasan Sejahtera,” she said.

“So far, for the first phase, we have provided 7,600 households with food and there are another 8,000 households to go at the end of October.

“So, that will be about 15,000 households that we have given food from the funds received, but it is still not sufficient.”

Hartini said she will present further proposals to strengthen social security and the welfare of the vulnerable at the next council meeting, expected to be held this month.

She said the presentation will focus on proposals to provide more food aid, protection to children and mental safety, which are seen as important in the transition to endemic phase. – Bernama, October 2, 2022.