Friday, March 26, 2021

US can't accept painful fact that China is now its equal: Martin Jacques

Chinese diplomats state China's position in the opening remarks of the China-US high-level strategic dialogue in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday local time. Photo: cnsphoto

We learnt two things from the China-US high-level dialogue held in Alaska last week.

The first was from the session at the beginning when the media were present. This would normally be conducted in a polite and somewhat anodyne fashion dressed up in diplomatic nicety. It could not have been more different. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan commenced the proceedings and made some sharp criticisms of China. In response, Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs, gave a bravura performance. Far from pulling his punches or couching his words in diplomatic language, he let his American counterparts have it with both barrels, challenging not just the US position but its very legitimacy. And all this before the world's media.

Let me quote some of his choice barbs: "When I entered this room, I should have reminded the US side of paying attention to its tone." "The US is not qualified to say it wants to speak to China from a position of strength." "China and the international community…uphold the UN-centered international order…not what is advocated by a small number of countries of the so-called 'rules-based' international order." "On human rights, we do hope the US will do better on human rights. The challenges facing the US in human rights are deep-seated. They did not just emerge over the past four years, such as Black Lives Matter." "On cyber-attacks, let me say that whether it's the ability to launch cyber-attacks or the technologies that could be deployed, the US is the champion." "The US does not represent international opinion and neither does the Western world."

While delivering these shots, Yang spoke with passion but never raised his voice. There were no cheap jibes. He occupied the high ground in the argument and left the Americans bewildered and belittled.

This is not normally the Chinese manner on such occasions. It is a sign that something has changed. There is a new sense of confidence on the part of the Chinese. That they are - or can - win the argument. That they are at least the equals of America. That they speak from a position of strength and America from a position of weakness. That history is on their side. It feels like the diplomatic equivalent of moving from "keeping a low profile" to "striving for achievement," or from being a relative spectator in the global system to becoming a major architect. The Americans have hitherto always thought of themselves as running the show; the shock visible in the body language of Blinken and Sullivan was the realization, conscious or unconscious, that this was no longer the case. The same was apparent in the Western media. The BBC, for example, invariably critical of China, reported it with an unfamiliar neutrality, as if stunned by the role reversal.

The second thing we found out from the dialogue (albeit already evident from the signals emanating from the White House), was that there will be no return to the status quo ante. That Biden is desperately anxious to appear as hostile to China as Trump was before him. The underlying forces at work here are very deep. America is in the process of coming to the painful realization that China is now its equal. But it cannot bring itself to accept or acquiesce in what is already an historical reality. That is why there can be no return to 1972 (Mao-Nixon Accord) or 1979 (US recognition of China). The relationship that prevailed then between China and the US was entirely different: the US was the giant, China a minnow. That was the basis of the US-China relationship for 45 years from 1972 until Trump torpedoed it in 2017, even though, of course, by the end China's rise was already undermining America's assumptions about the relationship. The realization that China was on the verge of overtaking the US economically, that China enjoyed a huge global presence, that it was already in effect its equal, came as an enormous shock to the American psyche and body politic.

Addicted to its hubris, it failed to see the blatantly obvious coming. As there can be no return to the past, the China-US relationship, so crucial to both and to the whole world, will have to be rethought on an entirely new basis, namely one of mutuality and equality. The problem is that the US is very far from thinking like this. How America needs for these times a giant like Henry Kissinger: someone who understands - and admires - China in a very profound way.

For the time being we must think in more mundane ways. Cooperation will be confined to the foothills, it will be a case of issue by issue, a bit here and a bit there, rebuilding contacts and communications between the two countries, ending as best can be done the toxicity and wanton destruction wrought by Donald Trump. Even this will not be easy but it ought, at a pinch, to be possible, with climate change offering the most important challenge and opportunity. For without cooperation between the two countries, climate change will imperil the very future of the planet and humanity.

The author was until recently a Senior Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University. He is a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University and a Senior Fellow at the China Institute, Fudan University. Follow him on twitter @martjacques. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

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Why are they choosing to speak up for Asians？

反仇视亚裔浪潮席卷全美 “人权灯塔”为何常年灯下黑？20210330 |《今日关注》

Children attend a March 17 vigil at Clemente Park in Lowell, Massachusetts, for the victims of the shooting spree in Atlanta. Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

MY sister and her husband, both senior citizens, are very cautious about going out.

It’s not just because of Covid-19. It’s because they fear being victims of a hate crime in their country for simply being Chinese. The country? Australia.

Which is ironic because they made the difficult decision to leave Malaysia 30 years ago to give their children a better future in a nation they believed would play fair and recognise talent with no quota system based on race.

But anti-Asian sentiments are making headlines everywhere as the number of attacks on people who look “chinky” rise alarmingly in many Western countries.

A study on police records in 16 of the largest American cities showed hate crimes increased 150% against Asian people in 2020. The latest is the March 16 attack on three Atlanta spas that killed six Asian-American women.

In the UK, hate crimes toward Chinese, East and South-East Asians rose 300% in just the first quarter of 2020. In Vancouver, Canada, the number rose from a mere dozen in 2019 to 142 in 2020, a 717% increase.

And an Australian National University survey of more than 3,000 people found 85% of Asian Australians reported at least one instance of discrimination between January and October last year.

My sister and her husband live in Sydney and being sensible people, they wear their face masks whenever they venture out. That has earned them brushes with white idiots who come up to them and deliberately cough in their faces.

The pandemic, because of its assumed origins in China, has brought out latent, long-simmering resentment, prejudice, even jealousy towards Asians in Western countries.

Asian immigrants, notably the Chinese, because of their capacity for hard work and determination to succeed, created backlashes wherever they landed in droves.

The United States and Australia treated the Chinese badly. Brought in to work on building America’s railroads, they were accused of stealing jobs from the whites. Chinese gold miners in Australia faced the same accusation. Both countries enacted anti-Chinese immigration laws; the US Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the White Australia Policy of 1901 to 1911.

The second half of the 20th century was a better time for Asians in the West with the rise of human and minority rights but racism never completely went away.

Emboldened by former president Donald Trump’s four years of insane leadership, the racists in America wormed their way out of the woodwork to wreak havoc on the country’s race relations, particularly in the treatment of black Americans.

Covid-19 gave them the perfect ammunition to revive old hatred towards Chinese people and fuel resentment against China’s rise as a superpower. Since they can’t tell us apart, all East Asians are attacked.

The hate crimes spurred The Washington Post to look at past episodes of a similar nature. One was the 1900 outbreak of bubonic plague in San Francisco in which the Chinese community was made the scapegoat:

“It is likely that the outbreak began with a ship from Australia, but since the first stateside victim was a Chinese immigrant, the whole community was blamed for it. The episode was a prelude to the racism that has been aimed at Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic... Trump frequently called it ‘the China virus, ’ ‘the Wuhan virus, ’ and the ‘Kung Flu’.”

What hit me hard was what theconversation.com had to say:

“Research has found that most Americans assume a person of Asian descent is foreign-born, unless there is some aspect of their appearance that clearly marks them as American – such as being overweight.” (This is hilarious, I must say.)

“Asian Americans of all types experience this perception of being ‘forever foreigners’ in a wide range of ways. Regardless of whether some or all – or none – of these latest assaults on Asian Americans are proved to be hate crimes or not, race plays a historic role.”

“Forever foreigners”. Now doesn’t that make you think of how Malaysian Chinese (and Indians) are forever called pendatang? Indeed, race plays a huge role in our history too, and still does.

It was just last month that HRH Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar felt the need to say that where Johor is concerned, the Chinese are not pendatang but guests invited in by his forefathers dating back to the 16th century to help develop the state.

“They are the ‘Bangsa Johor’ – just like the Malays, Indians and others, who are all Malaysians, ” he was quoted as saying in the interview with Sunday Star (“’The Chinese are not pendatang’”, Feb 21; online at bit.ly/star_chinese).

That was a nice gesture but as Sabahan anthropologist Dr Vilashini Somiah writes in The Evolution of Pendatang on newnaratif.com, the word meaning immigrant, which was originally neutral and without political insinuations, has evolved since the late 1970s to become derogatory and disparaging.

She says the word has been weaponised and “Today, pendatang is used by Malaysian politicians as an exclusionary tool of identity politics” and as a divisive and exclusionary insult by members of the public.

As an example, Dr Somiah recounts the 2010 incident in which a school head called all non-Muslim students “pendatang” and told them to “balik” (return) to their “country”.

That same taunt to go back to China was thrown at Asians in Western countries since the start of the pandemic. We have had none of that in our part of the world.

I did not fear being spat at or coughed on by fellow non-Chinese Malaysians. For once, in a country that is obsessed with race and where every form requires us to state our ethnicity, that did not seem to matter in the fight against the coronavirus.

Malaysians have been fortunate that no major racial riots have taken place since May 13,1969, but the reality is, our race relations have been fraying for decades.

Time and time again, certain politicians have shamelessly alluded to the possibility of another May 13 whenever they felt the need to warn “immigrant” Malaysians not to be too demanding of their rights.

The anxiety my sister feels now in Australia will surely pass and hopefully they remain safe from harm. But this ugly period will not make them regret their decision to emigrate. After all, their sacrifices paid off as their children are doing very well in Sydney.

The most important thing is racism is no longer institutionalised or legitimised in that country.

Australia has laws that make it a crime to discriminate on the basis of age, disability, race and sex in certain areas of public life, including education and employment.

Even that is not seen to be enough after the spate of pandemic-induced racist attacks and there are calls now to “simplify and strengthen Australia’s racial discrimination and vilification processes... to properly protect victims”.

On the other hand, in Malaysia, where it has long been recognised that racial polarisation has increased while racial and religious tolerance has ebbed, the previous short-lived government did plan to table a Religious and Racial Hatred Act to curb the growing number of such cases, particularly on social media.

Back in 2018, the then Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religion) Mujahid Yusof Rawa said the law was to “ensure that our multi-religious and multiracial society is protected from being insulted and belittled”.

But in August 2020, Perikatan Nasional’s National Unity Minister Datuk Halimah Mohamed Sadique told the Dewan Rakyat that there would be no new law as existing ones are able to look after interracial and religious harmony in the country.

I wish I could believe she’s right but as a born and bred Malaysian of Chinese descent who has no desire to call anywhere else home, I think more can be done.

For one, I would like to see calling someone like me a pendatang forever banished.

The views expressed here are entirely the writer’s own.

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中美高层战略对话在即美不行待客之道中方严正回应！ 20210319 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际中国核心利益没有退让余地中美需避免零和博弈管控分歧 20210320 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际 .

Searching for Covid-19’s origin

China aid offers Covid-19 vaccine assistance to 80 countries

The first batch of Chinese-donated COVID-19 vaccine doses is unloaded from a plane at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare, Zimbabwe on Feb 15, 2021. Photo/Xinhua]

Vaccine assistance is first large-scale effort of its kind

China is providing and will offer vaccine assistance to 80 countries and three international organizations, the first large-scale assistance of its kind, the country's International Development Cooperation Agency said on Friday.

The vaccines are being donated to a wide range of countries from five continents in a timely and orderly manner, including 26 in Asia and 34 in Africa, the agency's spokesperson Tian Lin said in an interview.

The country also offered vaccine doses to the African Union, the Arab League and the United Nations Peacekeepers, Tian said.

China has acted swiftly to donate the vaccine doses, he said, adding that the nation is also providing injection devices to countries facing difficulties.

So far, over 60 countries have authorized the registration or emergency use of Chinese vaccines, and many foreign politicians have been inoculated with Chinese vaccines, including the president and prime minister of Hungary, the Pakistani president and Chile's president, which Tian said is a vote of confidence in the security and effectiveness of Chinese vaccines.

China applies the strictest quality control measures with regard to its vaccines and ensures the timely delivery of high-quality vaccines, he said.

The moves aim to implement the promise made by President Xi Jinping at the opening of the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly via video link last year that COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good.

The ongoing assistance is provided to ensure developing countries have fair and timely access to vaccines, and is based on the pandemic situation and the specific needs of related countries, he said.

China provides the assistance to help developing countries save lives, to which it attaches no political strings and has nothing to do with geopolitics, he said.

China is not a savior, but tries to be a friend in need, a sincere partner to be counted on in times of difficulty, he added.

Tian called for efforts to promote the fair distribution of vaccines around the globe. He noted that while high-income countries have quickly acquired a large number of vaccine doses, there are fewer opportunities for poor nations to obtain vaccines.

He said that China firmly opposes selfish behavior such as hoarding, monopolies and "vaccine nationalism", and hopes the international community will do more that is conducive to global cooperation in combating the pandemic.

Vaccine assistance will not affect domestic inoculation, he said, adding that China always offers foreign aid according to the principle of doing the utmost within its capabilities.

- China Daily/ANN/The Star

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Sunday, March 21, 2021

Bitcoins, Cryptocurrencies under fire

Bitcoins

India and China come down hard due to concerns of financial market stability, illegal fundraising

N THE latest twist involving the world of cryptocurrencies, India’s government plans to impose a massive ban on the asset class.

Reports have indicated that the Indian government plans to pass a bill that would ban just about every activity involving cryptocurrencies, including the possession, issuance, mining, trading and the transferring of crypto-assets.

Once passed, this would make it one of the world’s strictest policies on cryptocurrencies. Government officials have said that the move is because they believe cryptocurrencies threaten the stability of financial markets, tend to fund unlawful activities and even resemble ponzi schemes.

The move by the Indian government falls in line with the school of thought that cryptocurrencies could increasingly suffer bans by governments around the world.

In India’s case, the move comes after an earlier ban two years ago. But last year, the courts in India overturned the decision, citing the ban as “disproportionate” after cryptocurrency exchanges filed a lawsuit against the central bank’s ban.

The strong stance against cryptocurrencies has also been shown by China’s government. More than three years ago, China was the first country to ban initial coin offerings (ICOs), calling it “illegal fundraising”.

Since then, the Chinese government has accelerated efforts to clamp down all businesses involved in cryptocurrency operations, including bitcoin miners.

China’s government says its stance is based on investor protection, money laundering concerns and the unnecessary consumption of energy due to crypto mining activities.

Last month alone, there were plans to ban new cryptocurrency mining projects and shut down existing ones in China’s Inner Mongolia region.

As one financial analyst puts it, “the problem with cryptocurrencies is that while it thrives to work in an unregulated world, it is bound to come under the scrutiny and regulation of governments, which are mostly afraid of its misuse and potential negative impact to financial markets. Perhaps somewhere in the future, a balance will be struck but that is anyone’s guess”.

While governments have a tendency to ban cryptocurrencies, many are embracing blockchain technology with the intention of issuing state-backed digital currencies.

This is essentially an electronic version of notes or coins which would replace physical cash entirely and dubbed central bank digital currencies or CBDC.

China is one of the leading countries for this and has already passed a law to legalise its own official digital currency. Similarly, India is an example of another country that is considering having its own digital currency. Interestingly, India’s move to pass the bill to ban cryptocurrencies comes soon after the mother of all cryptos, namely, bitcoin has hit its all-time high past US$60,000 (RM246,449) for the first time earlier this week.

The world’s biggest currency rally was driven by speculative demand, increased adoption by firms and institutional investors that see bitcoin as a store of value. Last month, Tesla bought over a billion dollars worth of bitcoins.

The electric car maker said it plans to accept the digital coin as payment for its products. Mastercard has also said it would also soon accept bitcoin as a form of payment.

Asset manager BlackRock and payment companies Paypal and Square have also recently backed cryptocurrencies.

Back home, the question remains whether the government, central bank or the Securities Commission (SC) would take a stronger stance against cryptocurrencies.

Malaysia’s regulators have held the view that digital assets are not legal tender and have warned investors to be cautious when dealing with cryptocurrencies.

SC chairman Datuk Syed Zaid Albar tells StarBizWeek that “investors must understand that unregulated, offshore investments are not protected under Malaysian securities law”.

“The SC has put in place a regulatory framework for such new emerging investment channels to provide certainty to issuers and investors who are keen to explore these new instruments.

“For example, our regulatory framework has tried to address issues such as putting investors’ money in trust accounts, accurate disclosures, cooling-off periods and conflict of interest situations are also regulated, ” Syed Zaid explains.

The country’s central bank, Bank Negara, also echoes a similar view, explaining that digital assets lack the characteristics of money and suffer from several limitations such as price volatility and risks of cyber threats.

“Digital asset activities are also subject to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations administered by the respective authorities, ” the central bank reported in its annual report in 2019.

Malaysia is also one of the countries studying the feasibility of issuing its own digital currency. “The bank is no exception, and we continue to engage closely in discussions surrounding CBDC with other central banks, ” it said.

More collaborations among central banks around the world are taking place to study the impact of a digital currency for financial stability and the monetary policy of a country.

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Friday, March 19, 2021

China-US high level strategic dialogue: Chinese diplomats deal vigorous counterblows to condescending US representatives; common ground hard to reach on contrasting logics

中美高层战略对话在即美不行待客之道中方严正回应！ 20210319 |《今日关注》CCTV中文国际

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Unsurprisingly and without any greetings, the world closely watched the China-US Alaska talks turn into an intense back-and-forth within minutes of opening, but the two sides' hardline stances were still beyond the expectations of observers.

Two days of difficult talks were expected to be the best opportunity for the Chinese and US administrations to get to know each other; so far, the US’ aggressiveness and disregard for diplomatic protocol, and rapid and sharp counterattacks by the Chinese delegation, have made the world take notice. Chinese observers said continuing talks despite the intense argument is why this dialogue is so significant.

The US delegation attending the China-US Alaska high-level meeting unjustifiably attacked and accused China's domestic and foreign policies and seriously prolonged its opening remarks, the Chinese delegation said after the meeting's first session.

"This is neither hospitable nor good diplomatic etiquette. China has made a stern response to this," the Chinese delegation said.

The Chinese delegation was invited to Anchorage to have a strategic dialogue with the US side with sincerity and was ready to conduct the dialogue in accordance with the procedures and arrangements agreed upon by the two sides.

The Chinese delegation made the remarks after the first session of China-US talks in Alaska concluded on Thursday local time.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs, stated China's position at his opening remarks, saying China hopes this dialogue is sincere and honest.

We thought too well of the US; we thought the US would follow the necessary diplomatic protocol… In front of the Chinese side, the US side is not qualified to speak to China from a position of strength, Yang said.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China-US relations have encountered unprecedented difficulties as China's legitimate rights and interests have been unreasonably suppressed. It harms the interests of the peoples of the two countries as well as world stability and development, Wang said, adding that the situation "should not be continued."

"The old habit of the US hegemonic behavior of willfully interfering in China's internal affairs must be changed," Wang said.

The US launching new sanctions against China just a day before the Chinese delegation's departure to Alaska was not hospitality and only proved its weakness and inability, Wang said, noting that "it will in no way affect China's legitimate position or shake the will of the Chinese people."

At the invitation of the US, top Chinese diplomats and other delegates led by Yang and Wang, the first foreign delegation to visit the US since the inauguration of US President Joe Biden, started "high-level strategic dialogue" with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Thursday in Anchorage, Alaska, one of the coldest places on US soil with a freezing temperature of minus 19 degrees Celsius.

As agreed by both sides, the officials will hold three meetings from Thursday to Friday, local time, media reported.

The opening remarks of the two sides were described by American media as "combative," as China stated firmly its core interests while the US continued to make unwarranted accusations about China's human rights situation and internal affairs about Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan.

Chinese analysts said that both the Chinese and US delegations were under huge pressure, and China's firm stance was setting the tone for the high-level dialogue.

Lü Xiang, a research fellow on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Friday that Chinese delegates' opening remarks clearly expressed China's resolute position on its core interests, which was telling the US and the world that no matter how long the dialogue will last, China's position will not change.

After the Chinese delegates' opening remarks, Blinken, who had finished his opening remarks before Yang, held journalists in the room for his further remarks, according to Reuters.

According to the agreed protocol, the opening remarks of the two sides were to be eight minutes altogether, but afterward, Blinken held journalists to give further US remarks and then immediately requested them to leave.

Chinese delegates asked journalists to stay to witness China's further response, according to a reporter with Phoenix TV. Opening remarks ended up lasting about 90 minutes.

Yang Xiyu, a former Chinese diplomat and senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies in Beijing, told the Global Times that Blinken made extra remarks out of concerns that he would be lashed out fiercely by his domestic audiences if he did not.

Whether he made a further response or not will not affect the dialogue, but he needed it considering domestic pressure and domestic political interest, Yang Xiyu said.

The "combative" opening remarks, which took place amid the increasingly complicated conflicts of two countries, were rather as expected, but the dialogue in the following sessions will not only discuss what the two sides argued about but will also explore the areas that the two sides could cooperate in to stabilize bilateral relations, Yang Xiyu said.

In his extended remarks, Blinken said US allies also raised concerns about China, with Chinese analysts saying this did not show the US' sincerity, as the issues between China and the US should be dealt with by the two parties, instead of forming cliques or pressuring allies.

Yang Xiyu said that China and the US made their opening remarks based on different standards and international rules, and China's were based on peaceful coexistence and noninterference in internal affairs, while the US' were based on putting human rights over sovereignty.

Thus, the two countries should set up a new rule-based communication means rather than the rules established during the colonial period to make future talks effective, He said.

For example, Blinken accused China of espionage, but the US failed to offer any solid evidence. The two sides should also set up rules on cybersecurity issues, including actions and criteria recognized by both on investigating evidence, Yang Xiyu said.

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Thursday, March 18, 2021

RM20bil aid for the people: the 6th economic stimulus package, Pemerkasa

PUTRAJAYA: The government has unveiled its sixth economic stimulus package, the RM20bil People and Economic Strategic Empowerment Programme (Pemerkasa), which, among others, will see targeted assistance given to the people and sectors still affected by the pandemic.

Focusing on 20 initiatives, Pemerkasa is also aimed at giving the economy a jump-start and to support business continuity, as the government reaffirms its commitment to care and listen to the people.

Unveiling Pemerkasa, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin identified five focus areas to promote economic recovery – control the spread of Covid-19, accelerating economic recovery, strengthening Malaysia’s competitiveness, ensuring inclusivity by reducing development gaps within regions and communities, and transforming the economy.

Of the RM20bil under Pemerkasa, RM11bil is fresh fiscal injection by the government.

Muhyiddin said among the efforts in driving economic recovery was to revitalise the tourism and retail sectors which had been hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Prime Minister said to alleviate the burden and to support the recovery of the tourism sector, the government would extend tourism tax and service tax exemptions on accommodation provided by hotel operators until Dec 31,2021.

“We will also extend tax incentives to tour companies until the year of assessment 2022, allow deferment of monthly income tax instalments from April 1 to Dec 31,2021 to companies in the tourism and industries such as cinemas and spas.

“The sector will also be provided entertainment duty exemption on admission fees to entertainment venues such as theme parks, stage performances, sporting events and competitions as well as cinemas in the Federal Territories, ” Muhyiddin said in a special address yesterday.

The scope of special relief on individual income tax of up to RM1,000 will be expanded to include expenses on travel packages provided by travel agents registered with the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) while the HRDF levy exemption for affected businesses under the tourism and retail sector will be extended until June 2021.

Muhyiddin said in addition, the government had agreed to a one-off special assistance grant of RM3,000 to more than 5,000 tourism agencies registered with Motac.

The government will provide a one-off cash assistance of RM600 to homestay operators registered with Motac, which is expected to benefit more than 4,000 Malaysian Homestay Programme hosts or entrepreneurs.

“When most of us are vaccinated, the government will consider allowing interstate travel in stages and may even establish a special green lane for border travel involving air transport.

“At the moment, the government will need time to assess all the necessary aspects and weigh the risks before a decision is made, ” he said.

To assist cash flow and reduce operating cost for hotel operators, theme parks, convention centres, shopping malls, local airline offices and travel and tour agencies, a special discount on electricity bills of 10% will be extended for another three months until June 30.

The total cost borne by the government for this extension is RM135mil.

The Prime Minister said the Perikatan Nasional government remained committed to moving forward in planning various economic recovery strategies for the well-being of the rakyat.

“The government has done its level best to ensure that no groups are left behind from receiving government’s benefits.

“Perikatan as a caring government always listens and cares about the well-being of the people.

“This trust will be shouldered responsibly and sincerely for the sake of the people and the nation, ” he added.

Muhyiddin also urged the public to register for the Covid-19 vaccination, advising all not to delay because the sooner people get vaccinated, the sooner everyone can enjoy a normal life.

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Helping hand for those most in need

No more blanket MCO, says PM

Pemerkasa: Something all can look forward to

PETALING JAYA: The government’s People and Economic Strategic Empowerment Programme (Pemerkasa) includes hiring incentives and micro credit facilities to give a leg-up to the economic sectors most affected by the pandemic.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government would allocate RM700mil to extend the Wage Subsidy Programme 3.0 for another three months, targeted at the tourism, wholesale and retail sectors.

Other sectors that were not allowed to operate during the movement control order would also benefit from this, he added.

“This initiative is expected to benefit 400,000 employees and 37,000 employers, ” he said.

Muhyiddin said the government would also enhance the PenjanaKerjaya 2.0 initiative under the Social Welfare Organisation (Sosco) by expanding the scope of hiring incentives to include temporary and gig workers.

This will include an allocation of RM300mil to assist 60,000 workers, where each worker will receive RM600 per month for a maximum of six months.

Employers offering short-term employment or gig service platforms registered with Socso will receive RM200 for each worker they hire.

The government will also extend the duration of PenjanaKerjaya’s apprenticeship programme to six months, where trainees undertaking this programme will be given an incentive of RM800 during their apprenticeship.

He said the government would continue to support the business continuity, especially local small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

“We will continue with the Prihatin Special Grant 3.0 (GKP) initiative to support businesses to recommence operations. Every eligible micro SME will receive a one-off assistance of RM1,000, ” he said.

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“Micro SMEs that have not received the GKP prior to this can apply for GKP 3.0 beginning April 1. GKP 3.0 is expected to benefit more than one million entrepreneurs.”.

He added that the government would increase the allocation for small-scale projects in 2021 from RM2.5bil to RM5bil..

“Among the types of small-scale projects which will be reserved for G1-G4 class contractors are the repair of public infrastructure and facilities damaged by floods, road repairs, social amenities, repair of strata housing including the replacement of elevators at public housing, and constructing stalls in municipalities, ” he said..

The government would also simplify procurement procedures to expedite the implementation of projects, he added..

Under Budget 2021, the government approved an allocation of RM1bil for micro credit financing facilities..

As such, Muhyiddin said the government would provide an additional RM500mil for micro credit financing through programmes under Bank Simpanan Nasional (BSN), the National Entrepreneur Group Economic Fund (Tekun Nasional), Mara and SME Corp..

“Through BSN, a fund of RM300mil will be made available with a financing limit of up to RM50,000 and the interest rate reduced from 3.5% to 3%. The loan tenure will be for five years and loan repayments will only commence after the sixth month..

“For entrepreneurs from the informal sector, Tekun Nasional will be providing an additional fund of RM60mil, especially for the Informal Financing Scheme with a financing limit of up to RM5,000 for small businesses operating from homes, night markets and wet markets..

“The Tekun Mobilepreneur programme will also be expanded to finance the repair or purchase of new motorcycles with a financing value of up to RM10,000..

“To complement this initiative, locally assembled motorcycles with an engine capacity of 150cc and below will be given a 100% exemption on excise duty from April 1 to Dec 31 this year, ” he said..

Financing assistance of up to RM20,000 will also be provided for repairing vehicles and up to RM50,000 for the purchase of vans or lorries under the POS-prenuer programme from Tekun..

“Through Mara, the Prihatin Micro Business Financing Scheme will be implemented, focusing on assisting 1,000 bumiputra micro SMEs in sustaining their business..

“A total of RM50mil will be allocated with a financing value of up to RM50,000 at an interest rate as low as 3%, ” he said..

“Additionally, SME Corp will provide RM50mil to assist local SMEs to obtain financing of up to RM250,000 at an interest rate as low as 3%.”.