PUTRAJAYA : Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Tuesday said that the government would soon introduce a new, more ‘business-friendly’ approach called “Mudahkan”, to simplify procedures for businesses to apply for trading licences.
He said he has instructed the relevant authority to work on it, after having received many complaints from businesses over the many time-consuming and complicated red tapes that they had to go through in order to apply for various trading licences.
He announced this during the courtesy call by key leaders of the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong), at Perdana Putra, during which they had a cordial and constructive discussion on the economy and current issues.
He was especially responding to the call by Huazong President, Tan Sri T.C Goh who hoped the government could further simplify the existing red tapes for businesses to conduct their business, for example the requirement for different types of permits, in some sectors.
Ismail Sabri said he could relate to their plight well, as his family too once operated a sundry shop and it had to apply for as many as 6 – 7 different permits in order to conduct its business.
He disclosed that as an elected representative and a member of the government, he too had in the past received similar complaints from many business operators. Acknowledging that too many red tapes would essentially affect efficiency of business operations, he was thus convinced that once implemented, the proposed Mudahkan system could effectively resolve the issue.
Meanwhile, he was also glad to note that during his administration in the past one year, Malaysians of all races were living in harmony under the “Keluarga Malaysia” concept espoused by him. He thus hoped Malaysians could continue to adopt such a concept and forge greater unity in achieving their common goal of building Malaysia into a progressive and harmonious nation.
Ismail Sabri acknowledged that the “Keluarga Malaysia” concept was inspired by the exemplary racial and religious harmony demonstrated by Sabah, which he personally observed and experienced while campaigning for the Kimanis parliamentary by election, back in 2020.
He also assured that the government is very concerned with the issue of inflation and that he has recently announced five short-term measures to tackle the problem; they included abolishment of approved permits (AP) for Malaysians to import food items from abroad, banning export of live chickens, to give direct financial aid to the below 40 income group (B40) with effect from July 1, and to allocate RM500 million worth of low-interest financing to agriculture food producers, besides establishing buffer stock for poultry, meat and fish to ensure sufficient food supply in the market.
Meanwhile, during the discussion, Goh raised a host of important issues facing various sectors, such as inflation, labour shortage, red tapes and complicated requirements for operating businesses, and provided many proposals on how best to expedite economic recovery, and overall long-term development of the national economy.
He also assured that Huazong would fully support the “Keluarga Malaysia” concept of governance espoused by the Prime Minister, as it is a noble concept worth supporting by all Malaysians.
“Huazong also proposed the Prime Minister and the government to boost the “Buy Malaysian Products” campaign, as a means to boost domestic demand to expedite recovery of our business sector and economy, and to stabilize the Ringgit,” added Goh.
Besides this, Huazong also invited the Prime Minister to attend the 37th Malaysian Chinese Cultural Festival which will be hosted by the Negeri Sembilan Chinese Assembly Hall, in Seremban, from 16 to 18 September, 2022, as well as to visit the Malaysian Chinese Museum, at his convenient time.
Also present at the one-hour meeting were Huazong deputy president Datuk Ong Seng Khek, vice-president Datuk Lam Kuang Yau, secretary-general Datuk Dr Wong Aik Loung, treasurer Tan Sri Tan Kean Soon, his deputy, Tan Sri Tan Khoon Hai, among others.
