The world of Tzu Chi August 2020 (Vol.125)

2020 • 08 06 eature T he year 2020 was envisioned as a milestone in Malaysia’s developmental trajectory, as Malaysians eagerly anticipated the realization of Vision 2020, when the nation achieves its goal of becoming a developed nation. Back then, many of us had imagined a future of flying cars and advanced progress. Fast forward several decades later, we are now living in 2020. Cars have remained the same as we have known them to be, plying the roads with wheels on the ground rather than hovering in the air. The inventions that come closest to the flying vehicles that captured our imagination are remote-controlled drones. Nevertheless, we have progressed much in terms of technology: banking services have evolved to operating online on internet banking platforms, while the adoption of cashless payment is gaining traction with the proliferation of eWallet providers. Yet, Malaysia’s aspiration of attaining developed nation status has been sidetracked by the Covid-19 outbreak, leaving the country in the throes of an economic downturn graver than the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the Great Recession in 2008. TheMalaysian government implemented the movement control order (MCO) on March 18, 2020 in an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19. The MCO regulations dictated that non-essential business sectors were to cease operations. Many employees in the affected industries, such as the travel industry, were subjected to unpaid leave and other cost- cutting measures deployed by their employers to stay afloat amidst months of nearly zero income. Instead of bemoaning their unfortunate plight, a handful of enterprising individuals have taken to starting online businesses, turning a seemingly bleak situation into a flourishing opportunity in such uncertain times when sustaining one’s livelihood has become a challenge. Travel restrictions during the MCO had also negatively impacted the incomes of local farmers, who were unable to deliver their fresh produce to vendors in other parts of the country, amounting to significant losses. Some members of the travel industry came to the rescue by offering to distribute the farmers’ crops, leveraging on their extensive knowledge of local geographical conditions and their personal contacts and experience to supply the produce to a wider market. This initiative prevents the crops from going to waste while providing homebound consumers the option of having fresh greens delivered to their doorstep, besides enabling suppliers to earn a profit, mutually benefitting all stakeholders involved. Rising unemployment rate According to a report entitled “Employment Outlook for the First Quarter of 2020: The Impact of Covid-19 on Loss of Employment” published by the Social Security Organization (SOCSO), over 36,000 employers with 316,000 employees applied for the Employee Retention Programme (ERP), while 289,000 employers with 2.33 million employees applied for the Wage Subsidy Programme (PSU). The ERP provides an allowance to employees subjected to unpaid leave of at least 30 days, while the PSU subsidizes employees’ salaries