Only 16% of applicants allowed to work during lockdown period, says Azmin

A total of 128,150 companies involving 1.57 million workers have received approval through the Covid-19 Intelligent Management System (CIMS) 3.0 to continue operating throughout the movement control order (MCO) 3.0 period, says International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali.

The senior minister said those given permission to remain open came from a wider pool of 586,308 companies and 10.2 million workers who had registered with CIMS 3.0.

“Of the 10.2 million workers who registered, we allowed 1.57 million,” he said.

“This drastic cut is to ensure that movements can be controlled to contain the spread of Covid-19.”

This is about 16% of the total number of workers who had applied.

Azmin also said his ministry was not the sole determiner for approval as it was only responsible for giving the green light to companies under 15 ministries.

He said four other ministries already had their own systems for this purpose.

“Letters of permission to operate are not only issued by Miti,” he said.

“There are also letters issued by other ministries through their own systems which have been proven effective for their targeted demographics.

“Miti is not the only one who decides whether a business sector is considered an essential service or not.”

Azmin also responded to claims that the CIMS 3.0 system had been hacked after the owner of a photography company managed to obtain permission to continue operating throughout MCO 3.0.

He said the person is question had forged the letter of approval.

“After an investigation, we found that it was a false claim,” he said. “Miti will be lodging a police report on the matter.”

He also said that the ministry was open to any complaints or criticism about the system.