Dirty hands are the sign of honest, though not necessarily clean, work and labor and thus the income from such work is what we could call clean money. .
A person working with his or her hands, generally, has signs of this ingrained in skin of their hands and it is those people that we should value more than those who have highly manicured hands, whether female or male, who thus, more than likely, have never done an honest day's work.
But society values the latter more than the former, unfortunately, and we can see where that has led us, I am sure. Not only does society value the clean hands, as in no physical dirt on them, but also those that make vast sums of money, which those that do an honest day's work getting their hands dirty, do not.
The worker is the backbone of society for without him or her nothing would get produced, no streets cleaned, no parks and public spaces maintained, no food produced and no wood. The majority of office staff, civil servants, bankers and such like we could well do without, but we cannot do without the worker, the farmer and the forester. Neither, I know, can we do without doctors and nurses, and the cleaners in hospitals. Nor without the carers for the elderly and the sick. But most of those would fall under the term of worker anyway and thus are covered.
The disgrace is that those who toil hard with their hands and do the real work are those that get the lowest share in remuneration from their labors while those who do not do a single stroke of work are the ones who get all the rewards, which really are not due to them.
There are schools, nowadays, and I guess they have always been, who teach the kids that they should not aspire to the “low” jobs of working with their hands with terms such as “you are better than that”, or “we”, referring in that case to the entire school, “we are better than that”. I wonder what they think would happen if there would be not refuse workers, no street cleaners, and such like. For one they would be drowning in their own garbage that they create on a daily basis, not to think about the other things that would not happen would those workers not be there.
Rapt attention: Laundrette worker Amira
Wahida Osman watching the Prime Minister deliver the special
announcement on the loan moratorium in Putrajaya. — MOHD SAHAR MISNI/The
Star
The move is expected to benefit some three million individuals and businesses
KUALA LUMPUR (July 29): Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today announced that banks will offer a three-month loan moratorium extension and assistance to targeted groups in view of the current tough economic times.
The move is expected to benefit some three million individuals and businesses, particularly those who suffer pay cuts and are unemployed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Muhyiddin, who had a live televised speech this afternoon.
Muhyiddin said the decision was made following a discussion with the finance minister and Bank Negara Malaysia on further measures to help borrowers that still need assistance when the six-month moratorium ends on Sept 30.
The Covid-19 lockdown measures enforced over the last few months have presented an unprecedented challenge for small businesses in Malaysia.
The blanket six-month moratorium was granted by banks in April.
"Individuals who have lost their jobs in 2020 and remain jobless are eligible for the targeted moratorium extension of three months. After three months, the moratorium could be extended further at the banks' discretion depending on the borrowers' situations.
"Those who are employed but have had their salaries reduced due to Covid-19 pandemic will be granted lower loan instalments in tandem, depending on the types of borrowings. For example, for home or personal loans, the monthly instalments will be reduced at the same rate as the salary reductions.
"This assistance is for a period of at least six months and an extension can be given subject to the current salary situations of the individuals concerned," Muhyiddin added.
Apart from the two groups, Muhyiddin said other affected borrowers including traders, hawkers, self-employed individuals and businesses could also make similar arrangements with their banks.
Banks, according to him, have expressed their commitments to helping all borrowers, both individuals and small and medium enterprises, who are affected by Covid-19 outbreak.
Muhyiddin revealed that banks may allow borrowers to make interest payments only for a period of time on a case-by-case basis.
Other options are to extend the loan tenures to reduce monthly repayments or provide other reliefs until the borrowers' financial positions are more stable.
"For hire purchase borrowers in need of assistance, financial institutions will offer appropriate instalment scheduling subject to the Hire Purchase Act. This includes extending the repayment period with a lower instalment amount," Muhyiddin said, adding that eligible borrowers can contact their respective banks to make an application starting from Aug 7.
Economists laud move to extend moratorium for targeted groups
MIDF Research economist Mazlina Abdul Rahman said the extension of the loan moratorium for targeted groups is a better option than to continue providing the moratorium on a blanket approach.
"It is because there could be many borrowers who are opting for moratorium not because they are in financial distress but simply [because they] want to use the opportunity to preserve capital or for investment purposes," she said when contacted.
Her sentiment was echoed by Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd banking analyst Chan Jit Hoong, who said the quantum of new modification loss should be lower than the blanket automatic deferment as it is aimed at a smaller audience.
This initiative, he said, did not come as a surprise and is consistent with what banks have been mulling to do after the current six-month moratorium ends on Sept 30.
"We believe it is a more sustainable method to help the rakyat and also, restrain non-performing loans (NPLs) from ballooning out of control over the short term. However, it may hide actual damage and cause lag in NPL formation if the situation does not improve rapidly or an advent of [second-wave Covid-19] paralyses the country again," he said.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the moratorium extension shows that the government is trying to strike a delicate balance between supporting the need of the affected groups and the health of banks' finances, which is also crucial to the Malaysian economy.
"It's going to be targeted and that is very reassuring and therefore, limited resources are not going to be wasted. What is more important now is to encourage borrowers who have lost their jobs or who have been experiencing reductions in their current pay and perhaps, those who have faced financial difficulties to come forward and have a frank discussion about their states of finance with the banks," he said.
(From left) Chow looking at the Penang NCER human capital graphic info.
With him are John, state executive councillor Datuk Abdul Halim Hussain
and state secretary Datuk Abdul Razak Jaafar.
SIX companies will inject a total of RM525.3mil into Penang’s economy through the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA), said Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
The investment, under the second phase of the EmpowerNCER human capital development programme, would create 1,600 jobs, especially for those affected by Covid-19 pandemic.
“The investment will help cushion the effect of the pandemic and also complement the state’s efforts in creating new jobs,” Chow said after meeting the investors in Komtar on Thursday.
The six companies are PTS Industries Sdn Bhd (RM2mil), Clarive Analytics Malaysia Sdn Bhd (RM159mil), Iconic Penang Sdn Bhd (RM150mil), Osram Opto Semiconductors Sdn Bhd (RM110.07mil), UWHM Sdn Bhd (RM65.5mil) and Coraza Systems Malaysia Sdn Bhd (RM38.73mil).
At the event, Chow also gave appointment letters to four district officers to implement the Empower-NCER programme in their districts.
Asked if the state had taken into account all the factors which could affect the investment climate during the pandemic, Chow said the investments by the six companies were testimony that new investments were still flowing into the state.
“Even in the state Task Force Committee today, NCIA’S figures show a lower investment figure since the outbreak of the pandemic, but we expect a gradual increase in investments over a period of time,” he said.
NCIA chief executive officer Datuk Seri Jebasingam Issace John said besides fulfilling the needs of the industrial sector, the manpower in Penang must be equipped with the skills and know-how under the new economic norm post-Covid 19.
“The human capital programmes are to ensure that the manpower has the resilience to compete and make themselves relevant in the various business environments which have become more challenging at present times.
“The expected improvement could be seen between 18 and 24 months from now and we expect all to return to normal by 2025,” he said.
