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theSUN ON THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 24, 2022

SPEAK UP

COMMENT by Amanda Yeo

The need for economic, political stability

R
ESUMING the Malaysia-
Singapore Vaccinated Travel Lane
(VTL) with 100% capacity for both
land and air travel is, indeed, a
piece of joyous news for Johoreans who did
not have a chance to return home to
reunite with their loved ones for over two
years.
However, the Omicron wave, which has
triggered rising Covid-19 cases in Malaysia
and Singapore, would have squelched any
hope among Johoreans for the resumption
of businesses or income back to the pre-
pandemic era due to the scarring and
compounding effect of lockdowns.
Over the past three weeks, Malaysia’s
Covid-19 daily cases rose above the
projected “peak” level (of around 22,000
cases as forecasted by Health Director-
General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham
Abdullah) – that is, from 5,720 on Feb 3 to
28,825 on Feb 20.
At the same time, Singapore recorded
Some companies, restaurants and
hotels in Johor were forced to shutter
temporarily or permanently due to
insufficient cash flow to sustain their
business operations.
Take A. Seah, for example. As a dealer in
supplying automotive lubricants to
workshops in Johor Baru, he said 2021 was
the worst in his five years in business.
“Many of my orders were stopped or cut to
a minimum as most of my customers’
workshops in the city had closed or were
doing badly. If last year was bad, I believe
that this year would be the same as long as
there is no solution to the rising Covid-19
figures,” he said.
The other sector that has been badly hit
is none other than tourism. According to
the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s
(DOSM) State Socio-economic Report
2020, Johor experienced a 50.6% drop in
foreign tourists, from 8.07 million in 2019 to
3.99 million in 2020.
skilled workers at 11.2%.
All in all, lockdowns have caused Johor
to experience an economic slowdown,
from a gross domestic product (GDP)
growth of 2.8% in 2019 to -4.6% in 2020
and a higher absolute poverty rate, from
3.9% in 2019 to 5.9% in 2020.
In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic
has disrupted the whole supply chain.
Farm produce and fish catches faced
travel restrictions across districts and
international borders during lockdowns.
Transport and logistics require more time
No matter than before.
Eventually, suppliers and hawkers
which political from urban centres could only sell less
which led to rising food prices, further
coalition forms eroding the purchasing power of
Johoreans.
the next Even rural residents were not spared
as they too have had to contend with
Johor state rising food prices, including processed
food.
Datuk Hasni Mohammad from Umno,
who is also Benut assemblyman, took
office in February 2020 until the
dissolution of Johor state assembly on Jan
23.
Such a political development is
concerning as even after the Johor state
election on March 12, there is no
assurance that the change of mentri besar
would not recur.
Hence, to ensure the well-being of
Johoreans is taken care of, EMIR Research
has several policy recommendations for
the next Johor state government to
consider:
0 Conduct periodic reviews (i.e., once in
three months) for all short-, medium- and
long-term development strategies
together, ensuring that all plans can be
implemented with the desired outcome
within a specific timeframe;
0 Work together with private sectors to
attract higher value investments, promote

comparable Covid-19 cases during recent
weeks.
On Feb 19, there were 24,836 cases in
the country. However, the number
recorded reduced to 15,283 on Feb 20.
The persistent high numbers raises
gloomy and uncertain economic
prospects among Johoreans.
Although Omicron is less dangerous
than Delta in terms of severity, the
resurgence of a new variant that is even
more transmissible than the former and
deadlier than the latter cannot be
discounted even as it seems to be a remote
possibility for now.
This means that despite an optimistic
outlook by both the Malaysian and
Singaporean governments of the
pandemic’s eventual endemicity (living
with Covid-19) that is “within sight” or
“striking distance”, caution and care must
still be exercised with due regard to the
standard operating procedures, including
self-regulation and self-testing.
In short, progress towards achieving
endemicity can’t be short-circuited or
simply expedited without continuing
attention and review of the actual, on-
going context.
It will be a somewhat slow but steady
progress nonetheless, carefully
maintaining the proper balance between
lives and livelihoods with the (remaining)
restrictions.
And this is particularly true of southern
Johor, which is so dependent on an open
border with Singapore.
Indeed, many do not think or expect
that a full and free border reopening is
possible anytime soon.
As a result of the drastic drop in
Singaporean visitors coming over to Johor
for more than two years, the hitherto
border closure led to many business
owners struggling to recover from their
income drop and losses.
The on-and-off inter-state travel ban
and lockdown measures also resulted in a
49.3% fall in domestic tourists, from 14.27
million in 2019 to 7.24 million in 2020.
Johor has recorded fewer domestic
tourists compared with three Malaysian
states, Malacca (7.28 million), Sabah (10.34
million) and Sarawak (9.39 million) in
2020.
DOSM revealed in its State Socio-
economic Report 2020 that Desaru in Kota
Tinggi, Angsana Johor Baru Mall, Johor
Premium Outlet, KSL City and Kota Tinggi
Waterfalls were among the places that
attracted Malaysian visitors.
Low demand from Singaporeans for
Johor’s high-end condominiums and
landed properties are also among the
economic challenges that continue to
persist in the state.
For movement of people out of Johor
into Singapore, many Johorean youths
could not find the desired jobs that match
their academic qualifications even before
the pandemic as most jobs belong to semi-
and low-skilled categories.
Some Johoreans were left with no
option but to move to Kuala Lumpur or
Singapore for better job opportunities.
The Malaysia-Singapore border closure
had drastically affected the job market in
Johor.
Many former Malaysian workers in
Singapore, who do not have the luxury of
working from home (WFH) or were laid off
by Singaporean companies during the
pandemic, could only return to Malaysia
for good.
As such, this translated to a higher
unemployment rate in Johor from 2.7% in
2019 to 3.5% in 2020.
According to the 2019 Household
Income and Basic Amenities Survey
Report, the composition of skilled workers
in Johor only comprised 24.9%, followed
by semi-skilled workers at 63.9% and low-
government, it
Due to supply-side issues, rising prices
have not been confined to food items
alone but cover other expenses such as
ought to have fast-moving consumer goods (e.g.,
canned food, instant noodles), personal
that political care products and self-test kits, etc.
Johor is among the top five states with
will not to higher consumer prices.
Therefore, like many Sabahans,
destabilise or Malaccans and Sarawakians, who have
voted in the recent state elections
undermine the respectively, Johoreans should be more
concerned about bread-and-butter
existing issues such as living expenses,
employment and income over who will
political form the next state government.
With the “regular” change of state
arrangement administration during the past few years,
Johoreans seem to be more inclined
for any ulterior towards political stability to restore
business confidence, including among
foreign investors.
motive(s) or A daily’s headline, titled “Tackle
economy first” on Feb 11, revealed that
personal Johor-based business groups prefer to
have a new state administration that will
agenda(s) govern for a full term (i.e. five years).
Political stability will ensure that
businesses across all sectors have the
time to build rapport with the state
government and suggest ways to boost
the state’s economy.
Johor has witnessed a change of
mentri besar three times from 2018 to
2020.
Kempas assemblyman Datuk Osman
Sapian from Bersatu served as the 16th
mentri besar from May 2018 until his
resignation in April 2019.
His successor Bukit Kepong
assemblyman Datuk Dr Sahruddin Jamal,
also from Bersatu, took over as the 17th
mentri besar from April 2019 until the
collapse of the Pakatan Harapan state
administration in February 2020.
Thenceforth, caretaker mentri besar
rural tourism and agro-tourism activities
abroad, enable products to be sold via
digital applications and social media as
well as enhance employability through
knowledge enhancements and skills
training. In turn, Johor will be able to self-
sustain with these initiatives and not be
overly dependent on Singapore to boost
the state’s economic and tourism
activities;
0 Increase crop diversification and
produce high-quality agricultural
products to diversify the revenue streams.
Johor could potentially develop as the
main vegetable and fruit exporter to
Singapore while at the same time
improving on its food security;
0 Expand fibre optic networks, together
with the commercial development of
communication infrastructure around
Johor, bringing connectivity to more
households and entrepreneurs; and
0 Adopt a data-driven approach in state
public policymaking to better identify
individuals who require government
assistance in finding jobs, establishing
new businesses, assessing digital devices
and broadband services, for instance.
To conclude, no matter which
political coalition forms the next Johor
state government, it ought to have that
political will not to destabilise or
undermine the existing political
arrangement for any ulterior motive(s) or
personal agenda(s).
Political parties should also constantly
reflect on the needs of Johoreans during
these trying times and work towards
restoring their economic livelihoods.
Amanda Yeo is research analyst at EMIR
Research, an independent think tank
focused on strategic policy
recommendations based on rigorous
research. Comments:
letters@thesundaily.com

LETTERS letters@thesundaily.com

Upgrading combat readiness while combating graft

THE Maharaja Lela-class frigates or
littoral combat ships (LCS) have
recently re-entered the country’s news
cycle yet again for courting controversy.
For those not in the know, in 2011,
the government announced that it
would build a class of six stealth frigates
to upgrade the Royal Malaysian Navy’s
tired and ageing fleet.
The contract was eventually
awarded to local shipbuilder Boustead
Naval Shipyard (BNS) with a ceiling
price of RM9 billion.
For ship design, BNS collaborated
with French defence contractor Naval
Group to produce a modified version of
the Gowind 2500 design.
The Gowind design was chosen
ahead of six other designs, including the
German Meko A100 and Dutch Sigma
10514 designs.
However, since then the project has
been languishing in a constant state of
purgatory.
The first vessel was expected to be
delivered in 2019 but never
materialised.
The government then suspended
the project due to delays and rising
costs, and the project was only resumed
two years later in October 2021.
Now, it has come to light that the
LCS project is the centre of a corruption
scandal. On Monday, Jan 24, two
individuals linked to BNS were
detained by the Malaysian Anti-
Corruption Commission (MACC) for
suspected misappropriation of funds
and accepting bribes. Rightfully, people
are angry about this.
It’s another notch in Malaysia’s long
headpost of graft scandals. However,
the LCS is too important a project for us
to doom. We really don’t have to look far
to see how the LCS can benefit us.
From a maritime perspective,
Malaysia is in an extremely precarious
position.
Not only do we have to constantly
defend our rights and claims to regions
within the South China Sea, but we
must do so against a bourgeoning
military and economic superpower like
China.
Without a technologically advanced
fleet, our navy has no chance against
China’s maritime prowess.
It is impossible for Malaysia to
defend her territorial sovereignty when
we are facing a huge capability gap.
Most of our navy’s ships are already
reaching the 30-year mark and the cost
of operating and maintaining them is
becoming increasingly high with
diminishing returns.
Finally, the LCS project supports a
whole ecosystem of small and medium
enterprises.
In a post-pandemic world, every
single job created or maintained is of
the utmost importance.
An estimated 400 local vendors
(primarily bumiputra) are involved in
the project.
If the government does nothing to
save it then whole livelihoods will be
lost.
The government must rescue the
LCS project for the benefit of its people.
To deprive the navy of an upgraded
fleet is to deprive its citizens of their
future security and safety.
Hizril Ismi Basuki
Wangsa Maju