PETALING JAYA: Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh has urged the National Security Council (MKN) to coordinate and finalise the SOPs before making any major announcements to avoid creating confusion.
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She said Putrajaya’s announcement on the work from home order for some one million workers was unclear and too general, causing uncertainty in the business community as well as those with families.
Yeoh said confusing SOPs might cost firms potential business opportunities while also making it hard for enforcement authorities to enforce the rules on the ground, leading to inconsistencies.
“I urge the government to clarify the confusion swiftly and ensure that a penalty is not imposed on those who are confused by the SOPs announced by both senior Ministers, Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Mohamed Azmin Ali.
“The government should also subsidise all the Covid-19 tests that were rushed to be done yesterday because of the confusion on swab tests.
“I want to remind the ministers that their honeymoon period is over. They should start to coordinate with each other before a decision is announced because the movement control order (MCO) is no longer a new thing,” she said.
Yeoh also told Ismail not to hold any press conferences if he had nothing substantial to announce, saying his briefings had sometimes left people more confused due to “unnecessary” announcements.
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“Stop the confusion, stop Covid-19. If Covid-19 doesn’t kill the economy, their incompetence will,” she said.
This comes after Ismail announced that workers involved in management and supervision in the public and private sectors in states under conditional MCO will be instructed to work from home from today, to reduce the number of workers at premises.
He also said all workers who have to be on-site for work are to undergo swab tests, with Socso to cover the costs for contributors.
However, Ismail yesterday backtracked on the swab tests, saying it was only compulsory for construction workers and security guards, while office workers were only encouraged to get tested.
Azmin, who is the international trade and industry minister, yesterday said only 10% of senior staff, namely management and supervisors, from relevant departments were allowed to work in the office.
These departments are the finance, administration, legal and IT departments aside from members of the company’s top management.
According to Miti, such staff slotted to come to the office will also be allowed to work there for a maximum of four hours, from 10am to 2pm, and for up to three days in a week. -FMT