Press Statement By Violet Yong:
I urge the Sarawak State Economic Planning Unit under the Chief Minister’s Department to inform the public as to the required time frame for the unit to process all the applications received for BKSS7.0 financial aids from SMEs and Micro-Businesses as well as the deadline to fully release the money to all eligible companies.
The BKSS 7.0 one-off financial aid was opened for online application sometime in October 2021. Despite the submission was done about three months ago, majority of the SMEs and the Micro-Businesses are still waiting for the aid from the Sarawak State Government.
“No doubt there is a small percentage of SMEs which had either received the full amount of RM10, 000.00 or the first payment of RM5000, but the majority of the companies including the micro-businesses have yet to receive a single cent as promised.”
It is also very disappointing to see the lackadaisical attitude of the department which handles and processes the applications. Till to date, there is no official statement updating the details regarding the number of applications received and the exact date for the disbursement of money from the responsible unit.
“When such a simple task to give out the BKSS7.0 aid could take up months to process and there is no time line in releasing the aid, it is obvious that there is something very wrong in the delivery system of the state government. The Sarawak State Planning Unit is just not efficient when it comes to process and approve the BKSS7.0 financial aid. “
The Ministry of Finance under the Federal Government only took a few weeks to disburse all types financial aids in phases including BPR and GKP even though the number of applicants is in the millions. There is no reason for the GPS government to take such a long time to process and review the applications submitted by only about 40 thousand applicants or less.
Therefore, it is high time for the Sarawak Economic Planning Unit to issue an official statement to inform the public about the latest status of BKSS7.0 for SMEs and Micro businesses.
Due to the pandemic, businesses are having a hard time and they are deeply in need of financial aid from the government. The state government should not further delay the matter but quickly fulfill it’s promise by disbursing the fund to all the eligible business owners. It is unacceptable to keep prolonging the aid which was promised in year 2021.
“The businesses urge that the Sarawak Government to disburse the fund before Chinese New Year.”
Violet Yong
ADUN for Pending
13.1.2022
