Amid the disorientation that’s hit most industries today on top of the Monday blues with the impending lockdown, the Proton Vendors Association (PVA) has urged the government to exempt automotive parts suppliers from the total lockdown starting tomorrow, reports The Edge.
As all industries grapple with confusion amidst the do’s and don’ts, PVA believes that shuttering factories of automotive parts suppliers is akin to missing the forest for the trees and could lead to an economic collapse in the industry.
“This is a crisis like no other. It is hard to predict if a total lockdown would lead to stabilising the pandemic condition. What we do not want is multiple crises — from health to financial crisis.
“Given the extreme uncertainty of the Covid-19 crisis, if the pandemic does not recede after the proposed total lockdown period, it will lead to longer durations of containment and worsening financial conditions to the majority of the manufacturers/entrepreneurs and self-employed Malaysians,” detailed a statement from PVA president Datuk Dr. Wan Mohamed sighted on The Edge Markets.
Apart from keeping the local automotive industry flowing, many local vendors for automotive parts are exporters as well and supply overseas original equipment manufacturer (OEM) markets; which the closure of could lead to instability in the ringgit.
“Lockdown is definitely not an option for both the domestic and overseas vendors who have the contracts to supply parts to the overseas OEMS. The stoppage in operation would lead to a default in the current and future supply contracts. Subsequently, legal claims would be served against them for failing to meet their contractual obligation.
“For these suppliers mentioned above, who are exporting parts to foreign OEMs in overseas markets, we would like to appeal for them to be allowed to operate under the strictest SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) during the lockdown,” said the PVA’s statement.
The association is pressing for automotive parts suppliers to continue operations but with stricter SOPs in place. It also goes on to back the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers’ (FMM) proposal and recommendations that persuades the relevant authorities to help entrepreneurs and the self-employed to rebuild their businesses once the lockdown is lifted.
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