Why use a sledgehammer to crack a nut?

Tengku Zafrul: Part of my responsibility as a Finance Minister is to avoid decision-making based on narrow short-term interests meant to serve a populist agenda, and do what is right for the rakyat, our market stability and the country’s long-term benefit."

WE are currently in MCO 3.0 lockdown mode, and there have been calls by various parties for an automatic blanket moratorium, like what we had during MCO 1.0.

First, a quick flashback. When we first instituted MCO 1.0, we understood so little of the virus, and with vaccines still a pipe dream, no one in the world knew how to contain it.

Among the various measures through the Prihatin package, Bank Negara and the banking sector agreed to provide a six-month automatic blanket moratorium for all borrowers.

Everyone enjoyed it, from the B40, M40 and T20, to businesses, big and small. Whether they needed it or not, the rich, the elite, big corporates and even companies recording massive profits, benefitted.