PEJUANG RECOMMENDS IMPORT RESTRICTIONS ON SOME OVERSEAS GOODS ON THE MALAYSIAN E- COMMERCE PLATFORM

MEDIA STATEMENT
CENTRAL ECONOMIC BUREAU PARTI PEJUANG TANAHAIR

PEJUANG RECOMMENDS IMPORT RESTRICTIONS ON SOME OVERSEAS GOODS ON THE MALAYSIAN E- COMMERCE PLATFORM TO ASSIST THE MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM INDUSTRIES DURING THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY.

1. Parti Pejuang Tanahair recommends that the government restrict the sale of certain categories of foreign goods in Malaysia e-commerce marketplace to help and protect local businesses in micro, small and medium industries to recover from the economic crisis that has plagued many businesses.

2. Malaysians bought products from China online worth US$49.4 billion in 2020 and was the world's fourth largest online buyer in terms of gross trade value at last year's 11.11 sales promotion. This is larger than Singapore (US $ 28.2 billion), Japan (US $ 13 billion), the United States (US $ 12.8 billion), and Taipei China (US $ 10.3 billion). The cash outflow of US$49 billion or RM220 billion is a large amount that can be spent on local goods.

3. There are 14.4 million e-commerce users in Malaysia, and it is expected to increase to almost 4 million new e-commerce users by 2025. This number represents 77% of our country's total population. The average online purchase per e-commerce user is US$383 per year and is expected to increase to US$530 per year by 2025. If local sectors are not promoted from the beginning, we fear not only local entrepreneurs, but the Malaysian economy will also be affected with imports exceeding total export.

4. Restrictions on the sale of foreign goods can also protect the government's initiatives and efforts which have allocated RM4.6 billion in the 2020 budget for entrepreneurial development. Since 2010, the government through the TEKUN has mentored a total of 219,674 entrepreneurs in various industries through the ‘Program Asas Keusahawanan, Tabung Ekonomi Kumpulan Usaha Niaga’ and hundreds of thousands of other entrepreneurs through various government agencies.

5. All these efforts will be in vain if local products and goods fail to compete with imported goods from China which are far stronger financially to produce goods and products in bigger quantity and superior quality.

6. The government has also spent a lot of money campaigning to buy made in Malaysia products but without barriers and access control to foreign products, entrepreneurs who are still struggling to survive may no longer be able to survive and the campaign will benefit foreign sellers and imported goods more than the locals.

7. The sales restrictions of imported goods on online marketplace such as Lazada and Shopee was well received and implemented by the Indonesian Government who have imposed restrictions and control on 13 product categories since May 2021.

7. The online shopping trend for Malaysians is focused on fashion, beauty, electronics, food, and personal care and more than 52% of online purchases are spent on overseas products through Lazada and Shopee platforms

8. Imported products under the fashion category such as hijab, muslimah women's clothing, muslimah clothing, muslimah men's clothing, muslimah women's clothing, mukena, children's muslimah clothing, muslim accessories, prayer equipment, batik and kebaya should be banned from being sold directly on all online platforms including Shopee and Lazada.

9. The government needs to study all the categories embarked by entrepreneurs in micro, small and medium industry, and help them by restricting online sales from overseas sellers to enable them to recuperate at least until our economy recovers.

10. Apart from restricting the sale of foreign goods, we also urge the government to give more emphasis on small service sectors like barbers, tailors and others as they are not only affected by movement control orders, but they are also still far behind in digitization.

ARMIN BANIAZ PAHAMIN
Member, Central Executive Council | Chairman, Central Economic Bureau Parti PEJUANG Tanahair 19.10.2021