By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, April 3: The Emergency Declaration proclaimed by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is to speed up the measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Dato Sri Alexander Nanta Linggi said the Emergency declared by the federal government in January this year was specifically aimed at curbing the Covid-19 transmission.
He explained that the state of Emergency was to better manage the Covid-19 pandemic in the country where cases spiked at the end of last year as opposed to public order emergency.
“This Emergency power is not to clamp down on politics.
“It is an Emergency to manage the Covid-19 pandemic which is very specific. It is not a public order Emergency.
“But the intention is to manage the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said in his speech during a dialogue organised by the Federation of Chinese Associations Sarawak (FCAS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) on Malaysia’s Prihatin Programme at FCAS headquarters here today.
He said without Emergency, the government will have to go through a long process for laws to be passed in the Parliament, debated and endure long winded protocols to manage the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Nanta, who is Kapit MP, noted that the Kapit district was once a green zone of Covid-19 before the coronavirus situation in the district worsened and became a red zone of Covid-19.
Meanwhile, he disclosed that there are five ordinances in the Emergency to combat the Covid-19 pandemic which were apolitical.
Specifically, Nanta said one of the ordinances was to improve the dormitories of workers.
He added some companies were reluctant to improve their workers’ dormitories voluntarily after being ordered by the Ministry of Human Resources to do so as it costs money.
Hence, Nanta said the government had to declare an Emergency to force those companies to abide by the law in order to curb the Covid-19 transmission.
“For months, companies do not want to spend money to improve the workers’ living quarters.
“Some (dormitories) are really bad as there were 20 people cramped into one small apartment,” he added.
With Emergency, Nanta said the law would require companies to improve their workers’ living quarters by a certain amount of time, adding that they will be compounded if the companies do not do so within the time stipulated.
For Sarawak, Nanta noted the state government agreed to follow the national labour law by requiring employers in the plantation sector to improve the living quarters of their workers although the national labour law is not enforced in the state.
Nanta asserted that the truth behind the Emergency was just to manage the Covid-19 pandemic and to ensure that the economy is functioning.
He said some quarters criticised the government for implementing the Emergency without really having the full understanding of it.
In the meantime, FCAS president Datuk Richard Wee, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry Sarawak director Datuk Stanley Tan, Companies Commission Malaysia Sarawak director Ramle Leen and representatives from the business community were among those present. — DayakDaily
