KUCHING, March 12: Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong has urged the State government to extend the deadline for micro-businesses to rectify their applications for the seventh Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS 7.0).
She noted that the Sarawak Economic Planning Unit had sent out emails to micro-businesses on the third and fourth week of February this year, giving them time to resubmit and rectify incomplete and inaccurate documents by February 28.
“However, there was no prior announcement from the government to alert business owners that emails will be sent out soon and the extremely short period of time to allow rectification of inaccurate documents and information to be carried out online,” she said in a statement today.
She further mentioned that a small number of the micro-businesses who were not aware of the emails and missed the deadline had approached her for help.
She also stressed that some applicants missed out on the deadline because there were circumstances whereby documents from the banks or Social Security Organisation (Socso) required at least a few working days to be ready, and by then, the deadline had passed.
“Many of the applicants expressed disappointment with how the government handled and processed the applications.
“They opined that the government is not being helpful enough to ensure the smooth and easy process to enable eligible small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and micro-businesses to get the assistance,” she added.
Yong further said she had appealed to the Sarawak Economic Planning Unit to allow applicants to submit proper documentation and correct the mistakes made. However, her request was rejected following the decision by the Evaluation Committee on January 17 with regards to the deadline set.
“Therefore, I had formally written to Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg yesterday (March 11), urging for a review so that online submission could be made available for applicants who had missed out on the earlier deadline.
“Most businesses were having a hard time due to the Covid-19 pandemic and were in desperate need of the financial aid from the government,” she continued.
On January 28, Abang Johari revealed that a total of 9,955 or 77.7 per cent of SMEs that applied for BKSS 7.0 submitted incomplete or inaccurate business documents, which had resulted in their applications being rejected by the computer system and hence payment could not be made. ― DayakDaily
