Shirley Tay, President of Malaysia Retail Chain Association of Malaysia (MRCA)
The Malaysian Government announced today (15 August) that based on the advises given by various associations such as the Malaysia Retail Chain Association (MRCA), will now begin allowing various retailers and businesses to operate as promised. The new rules will take into effect on Monday, 17th August 2021.
With the ramping up of the Retail Industry Vaccination Program, credit to the Malaysia Retail Chain Association, the MRCA council have been tirelessly been calling on the government to allow all retail sectors to be reopened immediately with a continued strict adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure the survivability and sustainability of the retail sector. MRCA has earlier on pointed out that the council was deeply concerned on the segregation of essential and non-essential sectors by the government as all businesses are interconnected in one way or another and cannot prosper on its own. In all fairness, all business owners consider their businesses as essential.
Meanwhile, MRCA President Shirley Tay said, “We at MRCA are thankful to the Government for hearing us out, and bringing us good news today. With the retail industry contributing 34.6% of Malaysia GDP in 2018, we hope that the government will also offer more legal and financial support to protect retail businesses from untimely closure. Due to the prolonged business closure, the previous financial support from the Government is grossly insufficient to keep businesses afloat.”
The Malaysian Government now confirms the opening of 11 additional retail and business clusters that will be allowed to operate in Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) including Barbershops and salons (for basic haircuts only)
In this regard, through the 65% confirmation of Klang Valley being fully vaccinated, the Malaysian Government now confirms the opening of 11 additional retail and business clusters that will be allowed to operate in Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) will begin on 16th August:
- Car wash.
- Electric and electronic stores.
- Home and kitchen appliances.
- Furniture.
- Sports equipment.
- Car accessories.
- Car distribution and sales centres.
- Morning and farmer’s markets only.
- Clothing, fashion, and accessories stores.
- Jewellery store.
- Barbershops and salons (for basic haircuts only)
Additional SOP will be imposed on clothing, fashion, and accessories, stores: jewellery stores, as well as barbers and salons. This includes wearing gloves, limiting interaction time between staff and customers, and not allowing the use of fitting rooms. Premises owners must also ensure that customers who wish to enter their premises present their Covid 19 Vaccination Digital Certificate. Furthermore employees who are reporting to work in offices and/or stores are required to undergo biweekly RTK antigen tests approved by the Ministry of Health (MOH), either undertaken via self-testing methods or at health facilities. Meanwhile, all businesses have to make an official declaration of the number of employees who are fully vaccinated in the Covid-19 Intelligent Management System (CIMS) 3.0, after which they may download the new operational permit letters.
