Challenges in Reviving the Malaysian Economy from the Impact of COVID19

The main challenge for the current Perikatan Nasional (PN) government to implement the plan of reviving the economy due to the impact of COVID19 is political stability. Since the current Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhiyidin Yassin took the job in March, he has yet to prove his government’s majority in Parliament. The question of whether he has enough majority support from the Members of Parliament (MP) is still not answered yet. That question can only be answered if the Parliament meeting is able to be held as normal. Based on the fact that full parliament meeting will allow the opposition party to propose non-confident vote against Tan Sri Muhiyidin Yassin in the Lower House of Parliament. One cannot be imagine, how Perikatan Nasional will be able to handle the impact of COVID19 towards the Malaysian economy without holding a strong position as the government.

The impact to the economy caused by COVID19 is more serious compared to the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997/98. During the Asian Financial Crisis, the government lead by Dato Seri Dr Mahathir was a stable government with 2/3 majority in Parliament, even though was faced pressure from the Reformasi movement. In that position, Dr Mahathir was able to be more focused to find a solution to resolve economic impact of the Asian Financial Crisis. All the economic plans were successfully able to achieve the goals recovering the economy due to the political stability. Logically, since the impact of COVID19 is worse compared to the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997/98, a stronger government is needed to carry the responsibility in facing the impact of COVID19 towards the Malaysian economy.

Therefore, forming a strong government is very crucial for Tan Sri Muhiyidin Yassin in order to execute Perikatan Nasional’s planning to revive the Malaysian economy post COVID19 outbreak. Based on the experience of the Financial Crisis in 1997/98, without a strong government, the Malaysian economy will not be able to revive from the impact of COVID19 outbreak. The 6R (Resolve, Resilient, Restart, Recovery, Revitalize and Reform) economic recovery plan strategy introduced by Tan Sri Muhiyidin Yassin’s team to revive the Malaysian economy is currently at the recovery stage. The successfulness of the implementation of the first 3R (Resolve, Resilient and Restart) is now being tested in the recovery stage, whether all the business and industries are able to recover or not will be known at this stage.

As we have witnessed, Tan Sri Muhiyidin Yassin’s team has been working very hard and show their capability in handling the COVID19 outbreak through the implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) and introduced several economic stimulus packages. But the continuity’s of his team planning is very much depending on their political stability as a government. A lot of hard work and cost was spent on the war against COVID19 outbreak by Tan Sri Muhiyidin Yassin team. Now their planning at the stage recovery to see whether the first 3R was success successful or not will be ensure at this staged. Recovery stage is crucial and needs a lot of effort’s as well as focus to make sure it can be execute as being planned. But, Tan Sri Muhiyidin Yassin government is currently facing tough pressure from the opposition party. Opposition party which now known as Pakatan Plus seem very active in doing the political manoeuvre to topple the current government. However, in Pakatan Plus are also having their internal problem to name the Prime Minister candidate, either Tun Mahadir or Dato Sri Anwar Ibrahim. 

Even though Tun Mahathir only has a small team from Bersatu with him in Pakatan Plus, but he still has a powerful influence to challenge Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the Prime Minister candidate. This is indeed a strange situation whereby PKR is the dominant party but Tun Mahathir with an only a small team is able to influence the decision of Pakatan Plus to make him as Pakatan Plus’s Prime Minister candidate. Some PKR leaders and supporters are dissatisfied with that situation and they insisted that PKR’s way forward is never to let PKR and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim “be taken for a ride ever again”. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim seems not only not get firm support from his old friends from DAP and Amanah to be Prime Minister candidate but that is also get pressure from inside his party from ‘Azmin’s people'. With the principle of democracy, we can see a lot of new fractional political parties being established, which made a lot of negotiation and compromise needed to form a coalition, fragile coalition.

All this political scenario indicate that political stability in Malaysia far to achieve. It also shows that the struggle to gaining power among politicians will always continue nor matter in what the situation is. Everyone calls for united in their definition, when are they in power, they define united as working together with them and stop going against them. When they are not in power, they define united as a struggle to build a better country and topple the corrupt government. Then, there is no ending going against each other and unity remain a fantasy. Therefore, there is no hope that we are able to have a better life under capitalism and democracy. The tough life we face now will continue and will sure became tougher if our lives are still managed by the same system.

That is the design of the political system of democracy used in our country today. Day by day it shows its weaknesses and limitations. The main problem is the system itself. Democracy is a system designed by human, of courses, it is full of weaknesses and limitations. The best system to manage human life must be from Allah and the system is Khilafah.         

Targeting the Root Cause: Stopping Alcoholic Beverage Industry - The Way Forward!

Despite having Muslims as the majority of the population in this country, which based on their belief, does not consume alcoholic beverage; it can be sold and consumed in large scale in this country because it’s allowed according to the law. The law implemented in a country will determine which goods and services can be sold and consumed, which one is not.

The reason for such unfortunate reality can be traced back to the inception of this country, when the supreme law of Malaysia, Federal Constitution was established by the Reid Commission headed by Lord William Reid. Even though some might argue that during the establishment of the Federal Constitution, the commission opened for recommendations from many parties including Muslim scholars,but we must bear in mind that it is up to the commission to decide whether to include any of these recommendations from the Muslim scholars in the constitution. This indicates that the establishment of the Federal Constitution is based on the framework of the Reid Commission, not based on Islamic one.

Therefore, the decision whether or not any economic goods such as alcoholic beverage or pork can be processed at the industrial scale, then sold and consumed openly is based on the law under Federal Constitution. This is the fundamental knowledge that people need to understand beyond the issue deaths in road accidents caused by drunk driver.

Since the alcoholic beverage industry is legal in this country, then the trading, as well as the consumption of alcohol is allowed to expand like other industries as long as they comply to all related legal provisions. In addition, some might justify that alcohol has also contributed significantly to the Malaysian economy in terms of creating jobs and tax revenue to the government, particularly in tourism industry among others. 

  

Like other industries, it is the government’s responsibility to make sure they comply to the rules and regulations. As long as the industries comply to the law, then they are encouraged to expand so that they can contribute back to the economy. The same thing applied to the alcoholic beverage industry. This is evident when Malaysia, being a renowned Muslim country, but it has been named by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the world’s 10th largest consumer of alcohol despite its small population and size.

The deaths of innocent people because of drunk drivers is seen as a separate issue from the issue of alcohol beverage industry. That’s why we can see that the government’s approach in handling the issue of fatal accident caused by drunk drivers only focuses on the law related to Road Transport Act in addition to campaigns to create awareness on the danger of alcohol abuse, not on the law about the alcoholic beverage industry as a whole, let alone to stop the industry. Strengthening the Road Transport Act may or may not be successful in reducing the incidence of fatal accident caused by the drunk drivers, yet it may not definitely solve the issue pertaining to alcohol consumption as it does address the problems arising from the alcoholic beverage industry. This also applies to the government approach to the issue of domestic violence caused by drunken husband, as the government will focus on finding the solution for the domestic violence instead of addressing the root cause i.e. the alcohol industry as a whole. This is the fact that we need to realize and understand.

Whether we like it or not, we have to admit that the alcoholic beverage industry is allowed and legal in this country, just like the licensed gambling industry. These two sectors were thriving at industrial scale and contribute significantly to the Malaysian economy.

From the secular and capitalistic point of view, there is no reason for the government to shut these two sectors, in fact such move is seen as counterproductive especially during this challenging times as we are facing economic uncertainties following the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Those with higher moral compass, sincere faith, and strong religious awareness who call for closure of the alcoholic beverage industry and restriction of large-scale import face strong opposition particularly from various stakeholders from the industry. Even the Law Minister who hails from political party leaning towards Islam took the path away from tackling the root cause, focusing instead towards ‘symptomatic’ measures similar to the plan that has been outlined by the previous PH government.

Moreover, even though it seems that it is possible to implement definitive solution, but in reality, it is almost impossible to do so, as the supreme law in this country permits the growth of the industry. The same applies to the implementation of hudud in this country. Although it looks like there is glimmer of hope for it to be implemented, but after long polemic and people has gained more understanding about the Federal Constitution, now even the strongest proponent of implementation of hudud via constitutional means has reluctantly realize that it is almost impossible to achieve under Federal Constitution.

In Islam, the policy about alcoholic beverage industry is very clear, that any prohibited good and services such as alcohol, pork, gambling, prostitution and all sorts of haram activities are not considered as economic goods. Therefore, it cannot be manufactured and sold like other economic goods. In other words, according to Islamic rule, no alcoholic beverage industry would be allowed to exist in an Islamic state.  Alcoholic beverage (khamr) is forbidden under ten circumstances, not only for consumption. At-Tirmidhi reported from Anas Ibn Malik who said:

لَعَنَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي الخَمْرِ عَشَرَةً: عَاصِرَهَا، وَمُعْتَصِرَهَا، وَشَارِبَهَا، وَحَامِلَهَا، وَالمَحْمُولَةُ إِلَيْهِ، وَسَاقِيَهَا، وَبَائِعَهَا، وَآكِلَ ثَمَنِهَا، وَالمُشْتَرِي لَهَا، وَالمُشْتَرَاةُ لَهُ

“The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم cursed ten in relation to Khamr: its producer, the one assigned with its production, the one who drinks it, the one who transports it, the one it is transported to, the one who serves it, the one who sells it, the one who eats from its profit, its buyer, and the one for whom it is purchased”.

Non-Muslims (Kafir zimmi), on the other hand, are only allowed to consume alcohol in their personal place, and alcoholic beverages are also not allowed to be sold openly to the public. Any activities that involves alcohol consumption  openly are also not allowed in Islam.

As a conclusion, even though the number of cases of deaths of innocent people in accident caused by drunk drivers is increasing, it is impossible to stop the alcoholic beverage industry in this country within the framework of this system, because the existence of such industry is allowed by the constitution. Actions to stop the alcoholic beverage industry means against the constitution and would be challenged by the industry players as it is their right which was protected by the constitution.

The only viable measure that the government can do in handling this issue is to enact the related laws to prevent drunker from driving, no more than that, because main issue not the alcohol industry as a whole but the act of driving under the influence of alcohol. Therefore, the alcoholic beverage industry can only be stopped if the country is ruled based on Al-Quran and Sunnah. The country is none other than the  Khilafah state. Therefore the definitive solution to stop the alcoholic beverage industry which is the root cause that resulted in the widespread negative impacts of alcohol consumptions in our country is through reestablishement of Khilafah state according to the method that was shown by Rasulullah (saw).   

     

Building a Resilient Economy

One of the main factors in the global economy, including Malaysian economy, that causes it to face uncertainty and not resilient is due to the existence of virtual economy/paper economy/financial economy. Virtual economy has a very strong relationship with the financial market that allows the economy to appear much larger than its real size.

This scenario is contributed by many factors, including the existence of capital market that allows virtual economy to grow much bigger than the real economy. Transaction within capital market that moves rapidly as compared to the activities in real economy has resulted in the wealth generated by the capital market to become bigger than those generated by the real economy. Moreover, the capital market can also be used as the basis to produce another financial instrument, namely the derivatives, to generate more wealth. 

As a result, the size of the economy appears bigger, even though there is no growth in real economic activity.  This phenomenon would eventually lead to financial crisis that causes negative impact to the economy, when the financial market collapses. The collapse of the financial market is a ‘natural’ scenario that would inevitably occur in the capitalist economic cycle, when the resulting ‘bubble’ economy systemically expand and finally ‘burst’. Consequently, that burst would eventually leads to financial crisis.

The virtual economy is also encouraged by the printed money system, which allows money to be printed without being backed up with valuable commodities such as gold and silver. This allows money to be printed simply based on confidence (fiat money). Since the money that we use today is backed up with nothing, it is also possible for the money to grow more rapidly at higher rates than the growth of the economy. The currency system today is not only weak but also allows the currency traders to gain profit out of thin air to the extent that they could result in the economic collapse like the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis.

Besides that, the development of the virtual economy is also driven by generating credit based on interest (riba) by the financial industry such as banks. This scenario occurred when money generated in the form of credit and interest through the banking system using method known as fractional reserve banking. This allows money in the form of credit to be circulated in the economic cycle more than the real value of money.

All in all, the size of virtual economy, which is an important method in capitalism system to stimulate the economy, became bigger than the size of the real economy. This phenomenon caused the current economy to be prone to the economy problems such as inflation and recession, because both problems are the eventual consequences of economic activities in capitalism. In other words, inflation and recession are natural part of the capitalism that cannot be separated from the system. 

The current situation of the capitalist system can be likened to a person who has a variety of diseases and very much dependent on medicine to survive. In the year 1997/98, he was diagnosed with diabetes, which required him to take diabetic medicine. After that, in the year 2008 he developed high blood pressure and hypercholesterolemia, and by the year 2020 developed kidney problem over the course of the disease and as the complications of too much dependence on medicine to survive. Consequently, instead of continuing taking medication, the commitment is increasing due to the need for regular dialysis. 

  

Even though the capitalist economy may still survive with medication and undergoing treatments that require high commitment in terms of time, energy and money, but the truth is the body’s vitality has been much reduced, and the ability to do work is not like before. These conditions render the body susceptible to infections such as COVID-19 which can be fatal.Therefore, as long as capitalism that is inseparable from the virtual economy being embraced as the system to manage and expand the economy, there will be no hope for the economic problems to be solved and eventually bring the true wellbeing to humankind. The economic problems may appear to be successfully solved through all sorts of economic stimuli packages, yet the truth is that they were just the medicine to make the body to barely survive while depending on them while at the same time, the body system has already weakened.

In conclusion, to develop resilience and a competitive economy, the virtual economy must be abolished. The true resilient and competitive economy is an economy that grows only in real economic activities, with no virtual economy. Capitalism cannot survive without the virtual economy. In contrast, the Islamic economic system strictly prohibits any activities or transaction related to the virtual economy. Prohibition of the virtual economy in Islam takes place through several rulings pertaining to economic activities. First, any mu’amalah that does not follow principles and rulings on Islamic syrikah is prohibited. Second, Islamic Sharia decreed that the currency must be backed up with gold and silver. Third, riba is prohibited. To successfully implement these three policies, the government that rule solely based on the Al-Quran and As-Sunnah, namely Khilafah System is needed. This is pertinent as the implementation of economic policies requires political will to ensure sustainability and sound structure to support them.

Membina Ekonomi Yang Berdaya Tahan

Salah satu punca utama ekonomi global ketika ini termasuklah ekonomi Malaysia sering mengalami ketidaktentuan dan tidak mempunyai daya tahan yang mampan adalah kerana wujudnya ekonomi yang dikenali sebagai virtual economy/paper economy/financial economy. Virtual ekonomi sangat berkait rapat dengan pasaran kewangan yang membenarkan ekonomi dikembangkan lebih besar daripada saiz sebenarnya.

Keadaan ini disebabkan oleh beberapa faktor antaranya ialah wujudnya sektor pasaran kewangan seperti pasaran modal telah mendorong Virtual ekonomi berkembang dengan lebih besar sehingga transaksi kewangan boleh berlaku dengan sangat laju sehingga dapat menghasilkan saiz ekonomi yang jauh lebih besar daripada nilai sebenarnya. Transaksi pasaran modal yang berlaku dengan sangat laju berbanding aktiviti ekonominya yang sebenar (real economy) telah menyebabkan kekayaan terhasil daripada pasaran modal menjadi sangat tinggi berbanding dengan kekayaan yang terhasil daripada aktiviti ekonomi yang sebenar. Bahkan, pasaran modal dikembangkan lagi dengan lebih laju mengunakan instrument kewangan yang dikenali derivatives.

Kesannya nilai ekonomi yang dihasilkan menjadi berlipat kali ganda lebih besar walaupun tidak berlaku sebarang peningkatan dalam aktiviti ekonomi yang sebenar. Senario ini akhirnya akan berakhir dengan krisis kewangan yang menyebabkan impak negatif terhadap ekonomi apabila pasaran kewangan mengalami keruntuhan. Keruntuhan pasaran kewangan merupakan satu senario ‘semulajadi’ yang pasti akan berlaku dalam putaran ekonomi kapitalis apabila gelembung ekonomi yang dihasilkan secara sistemik semakin membesar dan akhirnya ‘meletup’. Letupan yang pasti menyebabkan terjadinya krisis ekonomi.

Virtual ekonomi juga didorong oleh kaedah percetakan wang yang tidak disandarkan pada sebarang komoditi yang berharga seperti emas dan perak sehingga membolehkan wang dicetak melebihi dari nilai yang sepatutnya dengan hanya bersandarkan pada keyakinan (fiat money). Bukan sahaja wang yang digunakan ketika ini tidak disandarkan pada sebarang komoditi yang berharga, malah KDNK dan percetakan wang berdiri secara independen sehingga membolehkan wujudnya senario dimana KDNK negara mengucup tetapi percetakan wang meningkat dengan banyak. Kerapuhan sistem kewangan ini malah diletakkan dalam keadaan yang sangat berisiko untuk menjadi lupuk kepada pedagang mawatang asing untuk mengaut keuntugan atas angin sehingga boleh meruntuhkan ekonomi sesebuah negara seperti yang telah berlaku semasa krisis kewangan Asia tahun 1997/98.

Selain itu, penjanaan hutang berasarkan riba yang dihasilkan oleh industri kewangan menambahkan lagi kepesatan perkembagan virtual ekonomi. Senario ini terjadi dengan penghasilan wang berdasarkan hutang dan riba yang dihasilkan oleh sistem perbankan seperti fractional reserve banking oleh industri kewangan seperti bank. Senario ini menyebabkan wang dalam bentuk hutang yang beredar dalam putaran ekonomi jauh lebih banyak daripada nilai wang yang sebenar.

Saiz virtual ekonomi yang merupakan kaedah yang sangat penting dalam mengembangkan ekonomi dalam sistem kapitalis mewakili saiz ekonomi yang jauh lebih besar daripada saiz ekonomi sebenar. Senario ini menyebabkan ekonomi dunia ketika ini sering terdedah kepada pelbagai masalah ekonomi seperti inflasi dan kegawatan ekonomi, kerana ianya merupakan masalah yang terhasil secara sistemik dengan sistem ekonomi kapitalis. Inflasi dan kegawatan ekonomi adalah masalah ekonomi yang menjadi sebahagian daripada pelengkap semulajadi dalam sistem kapitalis yang tidak dapat dipisahkan.

Hakikatnya keadaan ekonomi dunia kapitalis ketika ini adalah ibarat seseorang yang menghidap pelbagai jenis penyakit dan bergantung dengan rawatan dan ubat-ubatan untuk meneruskan hidup. Pada tahun 1997/98 disahkan menghidap penyakit kencing manis, maka perlu mengambil ubat kencing manis. Kemudiannya tahun 2008 pula, disahkan menghidap penyakit darah tinggi dan kolestrol. Seterusnya, pada tahun 2020 buah pinggang akhirnya rosak akibat hidup yang banyak bergantung dengan ubat-ubatan. Maka, selain perlu untuk terus mengambil ubat-ubatan akibat penyakit sebelum ini, kominten bertambah lagi dengan perlu pula menjalani dialysis secara berkala.  

Walaupun masih dapat meneruskan hidup dengan kesungguhan menjalani rawatan dan mengambil pelbagai jenis ubat-ubatan yang menuntut komitmen yang  tinggi dari segi masa, tenaga dan wang ringgit, kenyataannya daya tahan badan sudah semakin lemah dan keupayaan badan semakin berkurangan untuk melakukan kerja-kerja seperti ketika masih sihat. Keadaan ini tentu sahaja sangat berpotensi untuk dijangkiti dengan virus yang boleh membawa maut seperti virus COVID-19. Begitulah perumpamaan sistem ekonomi kapitalis ketika ini. 

Oleh itu, selagi sistem ekonomi kapitalis yang tidak dapat dipisahkan dengan virtual ekonomi terus menjadi sebahagian daripada cara ekonomi diuruskan dan dikembangkan, maka jangan berharap sama sekali bahawa ekonomi akan dapat dipulihkan dan seterusnya memberikan kesejahteraan hidup pada rakyat. Jika ekonomi kelihatannya berjaya dipulihkan dengan bermacam-macam pakej rangsangan ekonomi, hakikatnya ianya hanyalah salah satu ubat-ubatan untuk merawat ekonomi agar dapat terus survive dalam keadaan sangat bergantung pada ubat-ubatan dan daya tahan yang semakin lemah.

Kesimpulannya, untuk membentuk daya tahan ekonomi yang mampan dan berdaya saing, virtual economi mesti dihapuskan. Ekonomi yang mampan dan berdaya saing serta mempunyai daya tahan yang kuat dalam erti kata yang sebenar adalah ekonomi yang berkembang berdasarkan aktiviti real economy semata-mata. Sistem ekonomi kapitalis tidak dapat hidup tanpa adanya virtual ekonomi, sebaliknya sistem ekonomi Islam mencegah dengan tegas sebarang bentuk aktiviti atau urusniaga yang menjurus kepada wujudnya virtual ekonomi. Mencegah kewujudan virtual ekonomi dalam sistem ekonomi Islam berlaku secara sistemik dengan cara; pertama, mengharamkan muamalah yang tidak berdasarkan syirkah yang dibenarkan oleh hukum syarak. Kedua, matawang disandarkan pada komoditi yang berharga seperti emas dan perak. Ketiga, mengharamkan riba. Untuk melaksanakan tiga perkara tersebut ianya memerlukan institusi pemerintahan yang hanya berhukum berlandaskan kepada Al-Quran dan As-Sunnah iaitu sistem pemerintahan Khilafah.

The Cycle of Wealth

In the Islamic economic system, the cycle of wealth is one of the most important elements in order  to simulate the economy in a productive way. Hoarding (Kanzul Mal) is an activity that is prohibited in Islam. Hoarding is defined as an activity of accumulating wealth without any specific purpose except but to accumulate wealth. From the economic perspective, hoarding is taking out wealth (money) from the market and causes economic activity to be disturbed or to slow down. Hoarding is different from saving. Saving is to save some amount of money to be spent for a specific purpose such as to build a house, for marriage, to finance the children’s education etc. The hukm of saving is mubah. Money saved will finally be spent in the economic cycle. At the same time, Islam allows saving in order to guarantee living needs (Nafkah) for one year.  The state must provide the guidelines on the amount of saving that is allowed for an individual to save based on their responsibilities and needs.

Islam teaches the ummah that whomever that has been granted by Allah SWT with wealth which is more than what he needs has to fulfill his own nafkah and that of the people under his responsibility. Two activities can be done - first, making investment in business, and secondly carry out amal jariah with sadaqah (voluntary charity). Both activities will ensure the wealth is always circulated in the economic cycle. The state has the authority to take over the wealth which is more than enough (a necessary amount of saving) to fulfill the nafkah in one year. This rule is to ensure that the wealth is always circulated in the economy whether through investment or spending through sadaqah.

The wealth can be invested through muamalat contracts according to Islamic teaching into halal and good sectors such as trading, industry, agriculture, services etc. which will create a productive economic cycle, based on the fact that in this way, wealth is always circulated in the economic cycle. Muamalat contracts in Islam implicitly manifest the rights and the responsibilities of those involved in the syirkah (investor and manager), making those involved in the syirkah play their roles productively. This method always encourage people to be productive in expanding their wealth which will directly stimulate the cycle of economy actively. This will consequently lead to encouraging innovations in business, creation of new products and consequently create jobs.

The political economy in Islam is very different from the political economy in capitalism, which is employed by our government today. In today’s economic system, to start or to expand a business, we are encouraged and driven by the debt industry which is based on riba (interest). At the same time, there is no rule to prevent the wealth from being taken out of the economic system, where anyone is free to slow down the economic cycle by hoarding. Hoarding from the economic perspective is a bad activity that can affect the economic cycle negatively. Spiritually, hoarding produces greedy people with the wealth of this temporary life to the point that they forget that all the wealth in this world will be useless when death comes.

Those who are not interested invest their wealth or have extra wealth after making investments, they can spend their wealth through sadaqah (voluntary charity). Islam encourages its ummah to do sadaqah and promises great rewards. Sadaqah to the poor, orphans, young people who wish to get married but don’t have enough money and other recipients, including wakaf, opens doors of righteousness. Sadaqah will not only help the needy but will also indirectly circulate wealth productively in the economy. MasyaAllah, this is the greatness of the political economy of the Islamic ruling system. It creates the true well being in this world and more importantly it teaches Muslims to prepare for akhirah (Hereafter).

If we relate to the current effort taken by the government to recover the economic situation affected by COVID-19, it can be concluded that it does not ensure the circulation of wealth manifested by the Islamic economy system. Instead, it is only an effort hoped to ensure that the Malaysian economy survives and recovers the shock due to COVID-19. And after all that, the economy will still be run by capitalism.