KOTA KINABALU: The government should focus on lowering the cost of doing business in the country to make local businesses competitive against Chinese e-commerce platforms, says Parti Warisan vice-president Datuk Junz Wong.
Weighing in on the ongoing debate over Chinese platform Pinduoduo offering cheap goods, he said the debate should not end with calls for restrictions or protectionism, but address the fundamental question of why Malaysian businesses are so expensive to operate.
"The government also has to ask why ordinary consumers are increasingly forced to search overseas for cheaper alternatives," the Tanjung Aru assemblyman said.
He said that protecting Malaysian businesses must not come at the expense of consumers already struggling with rising living costs.
"Do not make Malaysian consumers pay more to compensate for the failure to make Malaysian businesses more competitive," he said.
"At the same time, we must not abandon genuine Malaysian manufacturers and SMEs to unfair competition either. Fix the cost structure, enforce equivalent standards and taxation, and give Malaysian enterprises the conditions to compete," he said in a statement on Saturday (Aug 8).
Wong said the real issue over foreign e-commerce platforms goes far beyond cheap imports.
"Local businesses have to contend with rent, wages, electricity, logistics, financing costs, taxation, licensing requirements and regulatory compliance.
"These costs cannot simply disappear and, inevitably, a substantial portion is reflected in the final prices paid by consumers.
"If Malaysian businesses are becoming less competitive, the answer cannot simply be to make foreign products more expensive. We must also ask what the government can do to make Malaysian businesses cheaper and more efficient to operate," Wong said.
Wong urged the Federal Government to undertake a comprehensive review of the cumulative cost of taxation and regulation on businesses, particularly SMEs, including the impact of SST expansion, licensing requirements, logistics costs and overlapping compliance procedures.
"Every new cost imposed somewhere along the supply chain eventually has consequences. The government must continuously examine whether its own policies are unintentionally increasing the cost of doing business and, ultimately, the cost of living," he added.
He stressed that Malaysia must maintain a level playing field for cross-border e-commerce.
"Foreign platforms and sellers should comply with applicable taxation, consumer protection, product safety, certification and anti-counterfeit requirements.
"However, regulation should ensure fairness and safety, not become a tool to artificially suppress competition," he said.
"The objective should not be to preserve every existing business model indefinitely. Our bigger objective must be to create more competitive Malaysian manufacturers, stronger SMEs and more Malaysian products that can compete internationally," he said.
