Leaving businesses in the dark until the last minute will only prolong their struggles, former international trade and industry minister Rafidah Aziz said.

This came in response to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement this morning that the “total lockdown” phase of the National Recovery Plan would be extended indefinitely until Putrajaya’s daily case and vaccination targets are met.

The announcement was made just a day before the lockdown was scheduled to end.

In a statement, Rafidah said such an announcement should not come “at the last hour” as many would have already anticipated and prepared for reopening and easing of restrictions.

“SMEs, sole proprietors and businesses in general would have made plans to make new investments, begin operations with SOPs or even hiring anew.

“All these decisions would have had positive effects on society and the economy,” she said.

In addition to providing lockdown updates with more notice, Rafidah said many small vendors outside the food industry cannot pivot once forced to close.

She proposed that designated areas be established to allow these operators to continue trading.

Rafidah suggested setting aside proper areas for them to operate, segregated by their type of business, such as food, attire, fresh items, home use items and the like, with strict SOPs in place.

“Identify which categories of businesses can be allowed to operate with well-enforced parameters of safety and security.

“The National Recovery Plan is not about recovering ‘from Covid-19’.

“It is about parallel planning about how to ensure society and the economy can begin to function in an effective manner, with common sense and logical timelines.”