PETALING JAYA, Sept 17 (Sin Chew Daily) – Local economic analyst Datuk Chua Tia Guan proposed that the government enact law to make it mandatory for government institutions to purchase only locally manufactured products in a bid to help local businesses and revive the ailing local economy.

He told Sin Chew Daily while the government cannot afford to keep helping local businesses and the rakyat, encouraging Malaysians to buy local products will definitely stimulate domestic demands and help local companies while stemming foreign exchange outflow.

Although the government has encouraged Malaysians to buy local products for so many years now, Tia admitted that the results have been unsatisfactory mainly because local products generally lack competitiveness, especially with foreign e-commerce platforms offering unfair taxation advantage.

He said the government should consider abolishing small purchase tax exemption for imported goods in order to establish a fair and competitive platform for local companies in the digital world.

Following the unveiling of the 12th Malaysia Plan later this month and the subsequent Budget 2022, CHK Consultancy corporate consultant Dr. Ch’ng Huck Khoon believes investors and fund managers will restructure their investment portfolios and this will help the country’s economic recovery.

“Economic recovery takes time mainly because many Malaysians fail to see the changes in the overall environment with the same old attitude as when they were not yet fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Changes are indeed very difficult, but under the big environment we must change and sacrifice.”

Despite the fact the daily infection numbers remain high, Ch’ng said the government would not revert to the old ways at a time the public’s confidence towards the government is waning.

Meanwhile, Universiti Malaya public health expert Prof. Dr. Victor Hoe Chee Wai said over the past 20 months, many local companies which have practiced good public health measures have been able to thrive despite the challenging times.

As such, he urged all local companies to invest in public health measures in order to restore public confidence within the shortest time possible.

He said COVID-19 will still be around for some time mainly due to its mutation to evade the effects of vaccines. However, he insisted that public health measures such as wearing of face masks, social distancing, hand sanitization, good ventilation, screening at points of entry and targeted screening tests, etc. will all remain relevant in fending off the virus.

“In view of this, we will need to continue implementing all or part of these measures over the next couple of years. Companies should draw up their own public health preventive measures based on their individual needs instead of applying only the existing solutions.”

He proposed that local companies hire public health experts to conduct risk evaluation on their corporate operations and provide targeted solutions based on their own needs.