MCO 3.0: A confusing Monday for car companies and dealers in Malaysia

It was a confusing Monday morning for many in the car industry who are preparing for yet another MCO full lockdown tomorrow. Dealers are looking to their respective brand’s headquarters for answers, who in turn are looking to the respective government agencies and ministries for the necessary black-white documents, but no one can give them a clear answer.

“We read from news reports that the previous permits issued by MITI are no longer valid, and we have to apply for the new permits through the respective ministries (so which one do we fall under?),” asked one dealer.

“We’ve contacted KPDNHEP (Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs) this morning for instructions on how to apply for the new permits but the ministry staff said they will be having a meeting to clarify this before they can advise us,” said another executive.

After more than one year of dealing with Covid-19, you would think that the Malaysian government would’ve at least improve / learn from the previous two rounds of MCO. But no, our leaders are more apt at playing musical chairs with their political seats rather than cultivating a kaizen (continuous improvement) mindset, first thing in the morning.

On Friday 28th May, around 8pm (perfect timing right?), the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Malaysia will once again, go into a full lockdown from 1-June to 14-June.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said all economic sectors except for those listed under the essential economic and services sector list, must shutdown.

The problem was, nobody knows what are listed as essential economic and services sector. Of course one could assume that it should be the same as the list used in MCO 1.0, but which business owner wants to risk a hefty fine if they assumed wrongly?

Of greater concern is the glaring omission on any financial aid for businesses, many of which are barely surviving, and these are considered the fitter ones that have managed to weather the first two MCOs.

The Ministry of Finance remains mum on a blanket moratorium extension. Meanwhile, banks continue to insist that moratorium is only on a case-by-case basis. Public Bank announced a record high net profit of RM 1.5 billion for Q1 2021, while Maybank raked in RM 2.39 billion in profit.

On Saturday morning, when businesses reopened, many were confused if they should contact their suppliers to stock up on consumables. This was even more critical for those in the F&B sector, which had to deal with perishable goods.

It wasn’t until Saturday evening, at around 6 pm that MITI announced the new list of essential economic and services sector, which then leads to another problem.

The document doesn’t mention anything about car showrooms (but car workshops was listed).

“I am not sure, I am on my way to the office now, we will have to check. Everything is a blur,” said another executive responsible for dealer operations, today morning.

It wasn't until around 12:20 pm today that KPDNHEP posted on their official Twittter account that businesses can now apply for their operating permits online, via a Google Docs form, yes Google Docs.

UPDATE 31-MAY 8.30 PM: You've been pranked. Putrajaya has since made a U-turn on the matter.

Also read: MCO 3.0 Lockdown: In U-turn, Putrajaya says business permits to be applied through MITI, again

By the way, the Google Docs by KPDNHEP doesn’t list automotive. So ‘Lain-lain’ is the next best option. Yes, the sector that contributes over RM 10 billion in taxes, which MARii says employs over 730,000 people, is parked under ‘Lain-lain.’

“OK, we can submit our applications now, but what is the allowed opening hours for workshops? How am I supposed to plan for manpower allocation?,” lamented a dealer principal.