Compiled by C. ARUNO, OON JUN-YANG and R. ARAVINTHAN
WORKERS at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are unlikely to receive a two-month bonus or a significant raise in 2026 due to an overall drop in business this year, says the SME Association of Malaysia.
Its national president Chin Chee Seong refuted a survey by a NGO, which forecast a bonus and an increment of around 5% for workers next year.
“I do not agree that SMEs will give (two months’ bonus) to employees.
“Everyone is facing a tough time right now and retrenching staff. There will be a small increase in wages but not as high as 5%,” he said, China Press reported.
According to Chin, the survey by the NGO is not representative of SMEs, which make up 98% of the 1.2 million registered companies in Malaysia.
Based on information provided by members of the association, business fell by 30% this year compared with 2024. The worst-hit sectors were logistics and food and beverage with profits plunging by 50%, he said.
Chin cited the expansion of the sales and service tax scope and rising fuel costs as the main factors contributing to declining profits.
He hopes the government would introduce more measures to support SMEs in 2026.
> The daily also reported that a beluga whale at Shengya Ocean World in Dalian, China, went viral for spraying water at a visitor who ignored the park’s no-smoking signs.
Video footage showed a man wearing a bomber jacket smoking by a pool despite repeated warnings from staff.
While he was smoking, the whale, named Shiliu, leapt out of the pool and shot a stream of water at the man’s head.
This left the man drenched and embarrassed.
It is believed that Shiliu acted that way because the cigarette smell irritated its sensitive respiratory tract.
The beluga whale has lived at the aquarium for the past eight years and was involved in a fire drill meant for staff there.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
