Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon has urged the government to 'chill' in the implementation of its second economy stimulus plan.

However, 'chill-ing' according to Koh, does not mean that the government should relax in its efforts to help the country cope with the current global financial crisis. He believes the government should, instead, take into consideration the party's five-point strategy dubbed 'CHILL'.

"Gerakan would like to propose a 'C.H.I.L.L.' strategy, as contained in our memorandum on the second stimulus package to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Abdul Razak, to counter this impending economic winter," said Koh in a statement issued today.

koh tsu koon serious 030908Koh explained that just as was indicated in the acronym, the 'CHILL' strategy proposed that the government inject the RM10 billion allocated in the stimulus package into five important sectors: capital, housing, incentives, labour and land.

For capital, Koh stressed on the need to provide interest-free loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) so that they could survive an impending capital flow crunch. In housing, he said first time buyers should be given 10 percent start-up credit.

"The success of a plan lies in effective implementation and using proper incentives, which should include reducing or freezing both the employer's and employee's contribution to the Employees Provident Fund for a year," said Koh.

The need to create and retain jobs

In the labour sector, Koh said there is an urgent need to preserve jobs and to create opportunities for school leavers and graduates.

"Firms must be encouraged to use the lull period to intensify training and retraining so that our human resource becomes more productive," stressed Koh.

Gerakan also proposed that the land sector be fully utilised for agricultural and food production, with the support of state governments.

"State governments should provide more land for vegetable farmers and legalise farms currently occupying state land without approval.

"The government should also provide subsidies for fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides to the agriculture sector," urged the Gerakan president.