Sin Chew Daily

Prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the RM20 billion Pemerkasa package on Wednesday, including additional RM11 billion new government allocations.

The latest stimulus package is mainly targeted at unemployed and impoverished individuals, in particular those from the B40 group, as well as economic sectors yet to be fully opened up at this moment, such as tourism and retail.

Overall speaking, the Pemerkasa package reflects how the government policy is heading in future in a bid to benefit specifically targeted sectors and individuals in hope of more comprehensively revive the national economy.

From the five focus areas emphasized by the prime minister, we can see clearly the objectives the government must accomplish within the year, including containment of the coronavirus pandemic, stimulate economic recovery, enhance the country's competitiveness, implement more inclusive agendas as well as economic transformation.

The government's objectives are very straightforward. A complete lockdown is not going to augur well for economic development, and the government needs to put in place more comprehensive planning in order to break through the current stalemate arising from the pandemic.

We marked the first anniversary of the implementation of MCO 1.0 on March 18. Over the past one year, we have enforced different levels of MCOs and these have all dealt a severe blow on the economy as well as the people's day-to-day living. The 2020 second quarter GDP shrank by a whopping 17.1%, and during the first MCO last year, the national economy suffered a daily loss to the tune of RM2.4 billion!

A year has since lapsed, and it is now time to put our focus back on the economy again, as we learn to live with the virus, understand how to protect ourselves so that things could be back to normal as soon as possible.

The third wave of coronavirus infections has forced the government to reintroduce the MCO early this year. Other than urging the public to strictly comply with the SOPs, the government has also allowed more economic sectors to reopen in hope of striking a balance between saving lives and saving the livelihoods of Malaysians.

The Pemerkasa as well as earlier unveiled stimulus packages have been propellers of the national economy. While allowing more economic sectors to operate, they also offer assistance to those which are not yet allowed to operate, as well as the underprivileged groups that urgently require government assistance. This is to help them take a breather as they wait for their businesses to resume in full.

Similar strategies should also be employed in dealing with the virus in future, including no more complete lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, allocations for the national immunization program have also increased from RM3 billion to RM5 billion in a bid to expedite the vaccination exercise with the ultimate goal of achieving herd immunity as early as this December, from the first quarter of next year.

It is of utmost importance to achieve herd immunity through the immunization program as soon as possible so that the national economy can be back to normal soonest. The next quarter will be a very critical period. Once herd immunity is achieved, Malaysians will be more confident to carry on with their day-to-day living and the economy will get the much needed boost to recover faster.

In the meantime, before we achieve the herd immunity, the government should perhaps contemplate how to more effectively initiate the COVID-19 exit plan without compromising on the current fight against the virus, in preparing for market recovery and normalization of our lifestyles.

It is imperative that we identify our direction and plan ahead of time, coupled with effective implementation and improvement on our own deficiencies over the past one year. There are no reasons our stimulus plans will not work.