KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian government should improve its policies to enable business innovation, said British High Commissioner to Malaysia Charles Hay, pointing to certain bureaucratic practices and regulations.
In his opening remarks for a webinar by Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) today, Hay highlighted that, among the barriers to running businesses in Malaysia, are that sometimes, one needs about 10 different licences to operate.
Acknowledging that regulations play an important role in ensuring occupational health and safety, he said sometimes, however, they cause other worrying consequences.
“The alcohol and tobacco sector is highly regulated but you see counterfeit products slipping through.
“This is not only a threat to public health but a loss for the government in terms of income.”
He also touched on the issue of reducing Malaysia’s reliance on foreign workers, stating that consumers in Britain are demanding workers be treated well.
“This is a growing trend, and it will not only become a matter of human rights but a business necessity.”
Meanwhile, he said whenever heads of trade missions visit the Finance Ministry, they are often asked to highlight to the Malaysian government much-needed support for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Ideas’ “Post Covid-19 recovery: Building SME resilience” webinar discussed and assessed the effectiveness of policies rolled out to help SMEs build reliance in the face of Covid-19 challenges.
The webinar was moderated by Ideas CEO Tricia Yeoh and presented by research director Laurance Todd, with opening remarks by Hay.
Other panellists were Nottingham Business School research director Mohan V. Avvari, Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers council member Ter Leong Leng, Malaysian Hotels Association CEO Yap Lip Seng and SME Corp Malaysia economics and policy division manager Alicia Adam. – The Vibes, January 27, 2021
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