KUALA LUMPUR: Former newscaster Sheahnee Iman Lee, who now runs a cafe in Petaling Jaya, has called on the government to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the face of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic, and prevent them from falling apart.
In an open letter to the government on her Facebook account today, Sheahnee, 41, said she and her business partners had decided to voluntarily lockdown their company beginning Saturday "for as long as it takes" to safeguard their staff and customers.
She said: "I am reaching out as a small business owner with 13 staff who depend on me. As a small business we have to weigh the safety of our customers, big and small, and whether or not we can actually afford to close our doors."
Sheahnee, who is married to television host Nazrudin Habibur Rahman of Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan, said that the recent economic stimulus package of the government had "little solid measures" to assist SMEs in non-tourism-related industries as hers, apart from offering malls rebates on electricity and urging them to provide necessary assistance to their tenants.
"Does the government believe landlords will go the extra mile to help their tenants with rebates for voluntary closures? No, we continue to pay full rent and even pay late charges despite appeals for leniency.
"Electricity tariffs for non-tourism SMEs remain the same whether or not customers stay home, there is no relief," she said.
Sheahnee added that lower Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) contributions may have been allowed for employees but employers are still expected to contribute the same EPF rates, at a time when they were struggling to cover the basic salaries of employees.
"What will you do to assure us when our blood, sweat and tears can do nothing from keeping our hard-fought businesses from falling apart?
"If you want our confidence then please help us, for the sake of our staff who need their jobs, and for the sake of keeping Malaysian-born brands alive.
"Small businesses want to do the right thing, and most would be happy to voluntarily close, to allow the full effect of social distancing to work," she said.
Sheahnee co-owns Blokke Labs with Nazrudin and his brother Nizam Habibur Rahman. They formed the cafe and playhouse located in Citta Mall, Kelana Jaya in 2016, and it is specially dedicated to fans of Lego toys.
Their company is a social enterprise which aims to offer children of all ages a different approach to education through the use of Lego.