Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhiyiddin Yassin will be completing his first 100 days in the office tomorrow, June 9. Since his tenure as the eight PM of Malaysia on March 1, the PM came into power in an untimely fashion especially when the country was facing an unprecedented crisis.
The Covid-19 outbreak had not only ravaged the economy but also presented the country with a public health crisis. Many were also left unemployed in the last three months and the number is expected to surpass 800,000 by the end of the year.
In a report by Malay Mail, Economics and Management lecturer Hazrul Shahiri stated that the PM had turned the crisis faced by the country into an opportunity to prove his capability in steering the country’s economy into recovery.
He had set up the Economic Action Council (EAC) to take on the economic challenges and along the way set up a fund for Covid-19 patients. As part of his measures to curb the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak, he implemented the Movement Restriction Order (MCO) on March 18.
He further introduced a RM 250 billion Economic Stimulus Package to combat the Covid-19 pandemic with RM 100 billion of the package to aid businesses, including Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
While some of his initiatives were applauded by the rakyat and businesses, some of his other initiatives were met with mixed criticisms.
His announcement that Malaysians aged 55 and below are allowed to withdraw up to RM 500 monthly for the next 12 months from their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) was met with mixed reactions from different sectors and individuals in the country.
EPF savings were considered to be a worker’s safety net and MTUC secretary-general J.Soloman was quoted saying it would be immoral to use those savings to cope with the financial impact of the outbreak. SMEs in the country had further expressed their displeasure with the lack of aid as well.
However, this pushed him and the rest of his team back to the drawing board, leading to another announcement comprising of an additional RM 10 billion to help sustain SMEs and retain employment nationwide. As for individual Malaysians, he introduced cash aid that was banked in two parts while companies were given higher wage subsidy aid from the Government.
In recent announcements, he had announced that the government is set to introduce a RM35 billion’s worth National Economic Revitalisation Plan as part of its initiative to revitalise the economy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. RM 10 billion will be set aside as fiscal injection.
The plan will feature 40 initiatives and the Government has allocated RM 9 billion set benefit three million workers dealing with unemployment.
Additionally, aid in the form of matching grants worth RM50 million will be allocated to the gig economy platform for workers who contribute under SOCSO Employment Disaster Scheme & EPF i-Saraan.
Putrajaya will also be allocating RM 75 million to aid the gig economy, and in order to further encourage freelancing, MDeC will allocate RM25 million for the Global Online Workforce (GLOW) programme.
Furthermore, the Wage Subsidy Programme will be extended for another three months while 300,000 disabled people (OKU), single mothers registered with Welfare Dept eligible to receive one-off payment of RM300 each before Aidiladha.
What do you think of the initiatives that was introduced by him in order to keep the nation running during these unprecedented times? Did you benefit from the initiatives as an individual or do you think more can be done in the coming next few months?
Let us know in the comments!
