Malaysia Day address should bring further reforms for workers, small businesses, says Guan Eng

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim should use his Malaysia Day address on Sept 15 to announce further economic reforms to ease cost-of-living pressures and support small businesses, DAP MP for Bagan Lim Guan Eng said today.

In a statement, Lim welcomed several measures announced by Anwar in his National Day address on Aug 30, but said more could still be done to help wage earners and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“Anwar’s announcement that the annual sales threshold for exemption from mandatory e-Invoicing would be raised from RM1 million to RM3 million may disappoint those hoping for the threshold to be raised to RM5 million,” he said.

Lim said the higher threshold would nevertheless benefit about 1.1 million MSMEs by exempting them from mandatory e-Invoicing requirements.

He also welcomed the restoration of the Budi95 petrol subsidy quota to 300 litres a month and the setting of the BudiDiesel quota at 400 litres a month from today.

Other measures cited by Lim included an increase in the school maintenance allocation from RM1 billion to RM1.5 billion next year, an additional RM200 million for hawkers and small traders, and RM1 billion to improve digital capabilities in public healthcare.

He also pointed to free three-month subscriptions to artificial intelligence applications for 100,000 youths aged 18 to 30 who complete the required modules.

However, Lim said an additional RM1 billion for government microfinancing facilities, bringing the total allocation for 2026 to RM6 billion, remained insufficient for about 1.2 million MSMEs facing rising costs and price-cutting competition.

He renewed his call for a one-year interest moratorium on existing MSME loans and interest-free, collateral-free loans of up to RM50,000.

“The banking industry can help to bear the whole or part of the cost of the one year interest rate moratorium of existing loans and interest free new RM50,000 loans to MSMEs,” he said.

“The banking industry is probably the only business sector in Malaysia that recorded a 13.5 per cent rise or RM6.5 billion increase in profit before tax in 2025 to RM54.8 billion as compared to RM48.3 billion in 2024,” he added.

Lim also proposed abolishing the two per cent Employees Provident Fund contribution involving foreign workers, expanding and simplifying foreign worker recruitment, and reconsidering whether undocumented foreign workers already in Malaysia could be allowed to work legally.

He further called for a Special Taxpayers Tribunal to resolve disputes involving individuals and MSMEs and the Inland Revenue Board, as well as an increase in personal income tax relief by RM3,000 to RM12,000.

Several of the proposals had been raised by Lim earlier this year, including the MSME loan relief, foreign worker measures and the proposed taxpayers’ tribunal, while he had also previously called for the e-Invoicing exemption threshold to be raised to RM5 million.