KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 ― The DAP today launched a website to help Malaysians who failed to get banks to extend a six-month moratorium on their loans.
Called “aduanmoratorium”, the DAP said it will collate the information from borrowers and take up their financial woes with Bank Negara Malaysia, the federal government and the Finance Ministry.
Users will have to provide their personal information, detail the issues with obtaining the extension, type of borrowings and upload supporting documents for verification.
The portal is accessible in four languages: Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin, and Tamil.
“Many have gone to the banks now and gotten no approval for their extensions. Hence we hope this portal will help them as there are 7.7 million Malaysians who have loans and over 3,000 small and medium enterprises that are affected by the pandemic and in need of financial aid,” DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng told reporters at the party’s national headquarters here.
“We will collect all the data and send it to the government to get their claims done so that their moratoriums are extended,” he added.
The Bagan MP had previously asked the federal government to inject another RM45 billion into the economy following the extension of the recovery movement control order (RMCO) to December 31.
Lim reiterated that stance today, saying it would be too late if the government waited until next year to help Malaysian borrowers, pointing out that it is very hard to restart a business that has been closed.
He said his proposed additional RM45 billion stimulus injection will help save the jobs and livelihoods of 32 million Malaysians.
Lim said the banks have made a loss of RM6.4 billion from April till September this year. However this loss benefited around eight million Malaysians.
He said the value of the loan moratorium is RM74.3 billion and when compared to the RM6.4 billion losses it does not compare when the benefits of a moratorium extension could reach millions of households and businesses.
“The government does not know how bad the situation is on the ground. Everyone knows it’s very bad,” Lim said.
He then took a dig at Plantation, Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali who travelled Turkey in July and was given a wrist slap despite failing to comply with a mandatory 14-day self-quarantine order upon returning.
“But those going on holiday in Turkey won’t know this. He can travel what? The problems are for those at the grassroots level,” Lim said.
In March, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced a six-month moratorium on loan repayments ending September 30, in order to relieve the burden of people who are directly affected by the impact of Covid-19 pandemic.
Loan repayments during this period need not be paid, but borrowers that take up the scheme will accrue additional interest.
Groups such as the Malaysians Trades Union Congress have urged the government to extend the moratorium at least for Malaysians in the Bottom and Middle 40th per centile (B40, M40) to alleviate the financial pressure that was expected to rise with the economic slowdown.
The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers has also called for a similar extension, saying it would give businesses some breathing space to avoid possible job cuts and accelerate the country’s recovery.
