FMM In The News: THE STAR, PETALING JAYA, Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - The Health Ministry's proposed maximum compound of RM1mil for businesses guilty of breaching Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) is too punitive and will derail economic recovery efforts, says the business community.
Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said small businesses would be hurt by amendments to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1998 (Act 342), which once passed in Parliament, would see companies and organisations that flout Covid-19 SOP stand to be fined a maximum of RM1mil for compoundable offences.
"The business fraternity is still reeling from the impact of the various lockdowns and most companies have yet to bring their businesses back to sustainable levels.
"With a maximum fine of RM1mil for compoundable offences or up to RM2mil for offences to be prosecuted in courts, companies especially MSMEs (micro and small and medium enterprises) may be forced to close down as they cannot afford to pay such hefty fines," said Soh in a statement on Wednesday (Dec 15).
As of June 2021, out of the total 1,192,786 companies in Malaysia, only 32,388 or 2.7% are large companies while the remaining 1,160,398 companies or 97.3% are MSMEs, according to the Malaysia Statistical Business Register released by the Statistics Department.
As such, Soh said the government should come out with a different and targeted approach instead of punishing the majority of companies in Malaysia, which were MSMEs struggling to survive.
After the revocation of the Emergency Ordinances on Dec 8, the maximum fine that could be imposed on individuals or companies breaching Covid-19 SOP was only RM1,000 and this had become an issue recently.