KUCHING: There is no perfect mechanism for the allocation of financial assistance apart from being practical and realistic, said Sarawak Business Federation (SBF) secretary-general Jonathan Chai Voon Tok.
He was commenting on Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen’s statement that the RM10,000 one-off financial aid for active businesses registered in Sarawak provided under the Sarawakku Sayang Special Assistance (BKSS) 7.0 package was too little to help medium and large-sized companies.
“I believe if the financial handouts were to be allocated in a different way or manner, there might be other people who are not happy too. In essence, however you do a thing, it is not possible to please everyone,” said Chai when contacted on Saturday (Aug 7).
The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sarawak (ACCCIS) secretary-general believed that the state government had indeed considered how best to allocate the financial assistance to businesses when BKSS 7.0 was conceived.
“Possibly it is based on the assumption that bigger companies tend to be more resilient in countering the adverse impacts arising from the pandemic and that the resources available to the small-sized enterprises are generally limited.
“The business community, especially the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), is grateful for the one-off handout of RM10,000 as it would help to ease the cash flow of their businesses,” he said.
He added that while the business community would have certainly hoped for a better and more comprehensive package, people needed to be realistic as there were other groups, particularly the B40, who needed more help from the government to tide them over this challenging time.
He pointed out that prior to this, the state government had also provided three-and-a-half years of interest subsidy programme to SMEs which had obtained Special Relief Fund (SRF) loan from the seven commercial banks approved under the scheme.
Chai said the scheme had provided much-needed relief to SMEs during this difficult time.
“With the additional aid provided, the SMEs are in better position to sustain their businesses during the downturn and have a better chance to bounce back when the economy recovers in the coming years.
“Indeed, we have not seen any other state government in this country which has gone to that extent to help the businesses and we should be thankful for that,” he said.
