Sin Chew Daily

PM Muhyiddin Yassin announced earlier that all economic activities in the country would be resumed on May 4 Monday. However, so far only Perlis and Terengganu have said they will follow the instructions from the federal government while the other states will not, or will only resume operation partially and conditionally

Sabah, for instance, has made it very clear that the state will continue to observe the MCO until May 12.

Notably, discordance in opinions is common even within any given state. Some companies have resumed operation while others remain shut on safety concerns.

Apparently the federal and state governments are not concordant in their views on business resumption, and such disparity could have some impact on several aspects.

Firstly, the federal government's prestige and credibility will be at stake, as instructions from the federal administration have not been taken seriously at state level.

Secondly, the differing views could further confuse the public, and they may have to study very carefully which side to follow in order not to break any law.

Thirdly, differences in work resumption dates from state to state might negatively affect the supply chains for services and products.

FMM president Soh Thian Lai has reiterated the importance for business activities to resume concurrently in all states because of the strong correlations among the states. This is to avoid supply chain disruption if business activities are not back to normal in a specific state.

The federal government has relaxed the MCO rules to allow businesses to resume full operation with the objective of restarting the economy. Any disruption to the supply chains will hamper the efforts to revitalize the national economy.

In order to more effectively revitalize the economy, the federal government should have discussed this issue with state governments earlier on to prevent the current predicament. We don't expect state governments to move alongside the federal government in the absence of any sincere communication.

The federal government must understand that the political situation of the country today is very much different from the past, and that more cordial dialogues are necessary to reach an agreement in stimulating the economy while still effectively containing the coronavirus outbreak.

Umno vice president Khaled Nordin has blamed the impasse on the lack of discussions between international trade and industry senior minister Azmin Ali and various state governments.

Most importantly, the federal government should draw a lesson from this incident to improve its communication and interactions with state leaders.

Given the utterly challenging environment at this moment, full cooperation and concerted effort from all parties are essential, be it in battling the virus or rebooting the national economy. The federal government must work hand in hand with the state governments and pool together the combined strengths of the business sector and common understanding among the people in order to defeat the virus and bring the economy back to life.

Such inconsistency in policies must be best avoided.