Following the announcement of the Budi Madani subsidy policy, I have been receiving numerous calls from chambers, associations, and MSMEs over the past two days.
Their concerns are valid. While the government has clarified that e-hailing and food delivery workers will be entitled to a higher quota of RON95 petrol subsidy, no such mechanism has yet been outlined for nano and micro MSMEs.
This omission leaves a large segment of our business community, feeling anxious and uncertain. Many self-employed or family-run enterprises rely on personal vehicles to keep their businesses going.
Naturally, their petrol consumption is significantly higher than the general consumer. A flat allocation of 300 litres per month will not be enough to sustain their operations.
Unlike larger enterprises, these nano and micro players operate on razor-thin margins, where every ringgit saved can make the difference between survival and closure.
As someone who has been reporting on the MSME landscape for more than two decades, I find it disheartening that despite the existence of many representative bodies, the real voices and struggles of MSMEs continue to be sidelined in key policy decisions.
The current subsidy framework is yet another example of how MSMEs, the very backbone of our economy, are left trailing behind or treated inequitably.
The entrepreneurial journey reality is far from a bed of roses.
Policies that overlook the most vulnerable segments of our business ecosystem highlight that more work remains to be done to ensure fairness, inclusivity, and genuine support for MSMEs.
