Friday February 12, 2010

Setting up business is easy and takes only three days to start one, says Najib

PUTRAJAYA: Setting up business in Malaysia will soon take only three days as the Government steps up efforts to boost the country’s competitiveness.

By the end of the year, a business can start operations just three days after it is registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM). The time frame set matches the World Bank’s standards.

Currently, businesses need 11 days from the registration to opening their doors to customers.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said a “gateway system” costing RM4.5mil would be developed to allow simultaneous registration to be made to all agencies through the Malaysia Corporate Identity Number system or MyCoID.

“Once the system is in place, Malaysia will be an attractive place for people to do business in, because it will be relatively easy to start one and the time taken to start (operations) is just a matter of days.

“This is certainly a way forward for us and it will boost our ranking in the World Competitive report. I am pleased that efforts are being made to facilitate businesses, and I believe a lot more can be done,” Najib said at the launch of SSM’s MyCoID here yesterday.

MyCoID refers to the company number used as a single source of reference for transaction and reference purposes with other relevant government agencies. It is currently used by several agencies like the Inland Revenue Board, Employees’ Provident Fund, Socso and the Small and Medium Enterprise Corporation.

Najib said the time taken to start a business could be made shorter because once a company was registered with the SSM, other relevant agencies that needed to look at the application could go through the gateway system without the applicant having to submit the forms to all of them.

At a press conference later, Najib said any trade negotiations with China would have to be made collectively with other Asean members and not on the basis of bilateral agreements.

“Whatever it is, we have to be as competitive as possible. We have to make necessary adjustments for us to succeed,” he said when asked to comment on calls to check the import of goods from China to protect local small and medium enterprises.

Asked how he felt when his “former boss” Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad gave his leadership the thumbs-up, Najib said:

“I appreciate the positive remarks and comments from our previous leaders. It means that they are very much together (with us) in facing challenges.”

The former prime minister had said he was pleased with the way Najib leads the country, and hoped he would continue with the tradition of serving the people.

More News