Malaysia will close all economic and social sectors by implementing a "total lockdown” throughout the country. The first phase of the lockdown will last from Jun 1 to Jun 14. This move was announced in a media statement posted on Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Facebook page on Friday (May 28) night. 

How lockdown will affect our economy?

The COVID-19 pandemic has evolved into a health, socioeconomic and humanitarian crises of unprecedented scale and impact. The situation in Malaysia is compounded by the fact that the Government came into power only in early March of 2020 and is already facing a heavy debt problem, financial constraints, plummeting oil prices and knock-on effects on trade and tourism from the global shut down.

How lockdown will affect our labour force?

The labour force surveys revealed that the self- employed/own account workers represent some 2.7 million or 18 per cent of the country’s total labour force.

How lockdown will affect our tourism industry?   

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that the country will be limiting non-essential businesses operations as well as banning all visitors from entering the country and residents from travelling overseas from March 18 for two weeks.

All the businesses involved in the tourist trade, like hotels, restaurants, food stalls, taxies etc, will be affected badly.

How lockdown will the palm oil industry?  

Malaysia is the 2^nd largest palm oil producer in the world. All the palm oil growers are worried that it will hamper harvesting as well as mill and refinery operations. Palm oil is the world’s most-used oil that can be found in everything from shampoos to chocolate.

“Closing operations for two weeks will have dire consequences on the industry and the livelihoods of our 650,000 smallholders," said Mr Nageeb Wahab, chief executive of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association.

Not only could restrictions to the sector disrupt orders and deliveries, it could also potentially damage a key part of Malaysia's economy as buyers choose to switch to other suppliers, including rival Indonesia.

How Malaysia could have avoided the national lockdown?

Malaysia reported 9,020 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday (May 29), its highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic.

This is the fifth straight day of record new infections, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 558,534, of which 76,218 are currently active or infectious.

The above chart shows that on 6 September 2020 Malaysia had only 6 new cases and the total number of cases was less than 100.

Our PM Muhyiddin could have easily rung the Chinese Ambassador in Kuala Lumpur or President Xi Jinping for supply of Sinovac vaccines. If Muhyiddin did that Malaysia would be one of the safest countries in the world. 

Currently Pharmaniaga is the sole Sinovac distributer in Malaysia. Since China is our biggest trading partner, our government should have bought all the required Sinovac directly from the manufacturer instead of paying more from Pharmaniaga.

In fact, our government should have bought all our required Sinovac vaccines much earlier from China. If most Malaysians are vaccinated, our government would not require to impose total national lockdown.