Too many policy changes a burden on private sector, says business figure

SIBU (Jan 7): Local business figure hopes that the Madani Government would go all out to ensure that any new policy must go through very thorough evaluations before implementation and en-forcement.

According to Dr Gregory Hii, there are too many policy changes that end up creating lots of problems and hardship for those in the private sector.

“Making adjustments after policy implementation must be avoided.

“If the ministries concerned lacked first-class human resources and industrial experiences, then chaos would rule the day,” he said in a statement.

Hii also said he has observed that the government, in past years, appeared to be good at issu-ing new policies, only to be followed by ‘fine adjustments later’.

On this, he remarked: “Many in the private sector are finding it increasingly hard to adjust and cope with the directives; hence, impacting their efficiency, productivity and financial resources.

“We have the e-invoicing, the JPJ (Road Transport Department) directives, the financial industry guidelines, the tax rules – all these are bringing hardship to the private sector.”

Citing an example, he said the ‘flip and flop’ of e-invoicing had brought ‘great confusion and worries’ to those in the private sector.

“Though the government has postponed e-invoicing for companies earning up to RM5 million by another year, many have already paid for both the software and hardware required for this system.

“That itself is an unnecessary loss to them; far too often, the government fail to think properly before implementing policies and then, amending them.”

The implementation of e-invoicing took effect on Aug 1, 2024, and on Jan 1 this year, Malaysia entered the fourth phase of its implementation as part of the government’s efforts to strengthen tax administration and also to ease the compliance burden off the small and me-dium enterprises (SMEs).

Introduced as a digital platform to streamline invoicing and improve tax compliance, e-invoicing requires businesses to generate and submit invoices electronically, enhancing reporting and tax collection efficiency, while reducing leakage.

Hii said another ‘flip-flop’ example was the proposal to standardise the school uniforms.

“How will this elevate our educational standard?

“Another half baked idea.”

Adding on, Hii said there should be no compromise in ensuring that the nation’s educational institutions must maintain respectable standards.