Letter to Editor
By SAMENTA
SMALL and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (SAMENTA) welcomes the announcement of the second ‘Pakej Kita Selangor’ by Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amiruddin Shari to help citizens and small businesses in the state to survive the pandemic with some dignity and hope.
While the bulk of the allocation are meant for B40 families, senior citizens and gig economy workers, the state government has allocated additional funds to continue and scale up programmes for SMEs that have worked in the past, such as the Platform Selangor (PLATS).
A majority of the initiatives announced are one-off in nature and are primarily meant for micro-businesses. This could be due to a misperception that SMEs are stronger financially.
On the contrary, SMEs in the state have far higher overheads, and employ more Selangorians than micro-businesses that tend to be solopreneurs or perhaps family-run.
Indeed, SMEs employ about half of all Selangorians, and many are now severely distressed. We could lose up to one third of our SMEs if the movement control order (MCO) is continued and no assistance is forthcoming from the Government.
As the Federal Government has provided support in the form of targeted moratorium, financing and wage subsidies, it is our hope that the state government can consider supporting SMEs in the state as follows:
- A 50% discount until the end of the year on all business license fees for all SMEs in the state, across all sectors and for all services.
- Increase the SME Digitalisation Matching Grant from the current RM5 mil to RM10 mil to benefit 2,000 SMEs in the state, and to increase the revenue cap of eligibility from the current RM1 mil to RM5 mil.
SAMENTA fully support the Selangor COVID-19 Vaccination Programme (SCVP) and the POIS (Prevention of Outbreak at Ignition Sites) programme; both of which would help us mitigate the economic damage inflicted by the pandemic.
We also welcome the establishment of the Special Committee for Compliance of Health Controls in Industry, and look forward to working with the committee to minimise the spread of the virus at industrial sites and in accelerating the vaccination of our ‘economic frontliners’.
Lastly, we re-iterate our support for the State Government’s initiatives in supporting Selangorians during this pandemic and in preparing the state for a recovery post-pandemic. – June 10, 2021
Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (SAMENTA) is Malaysia’s first association of SMEs, which champions the development of SMEs in Malaysia.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
