The initiative of conducting Sales & Services Tax Briefing Roadshow is a positive exercise carried out by the Ministry of Finance together with Royal Malaysian Customs in order to clear the doubts faced by the businesses and consumers. Such roadshow has promoted a softer, gentler, and friendlier approach by the Harapan Government and this similar initiative should be duplicated by all the respective governmental departments and to be done more often to promote awareness to the public as what Penang Government has always been practicing; Competency, Accountability, Transparency (CAT) on all government policies.
Yesterday’s SST Briefing Together with Ministry of Finance Roadshow has been successfully conducted at Sunway Putra Mall attracting various business associations, businessmen, and public. One of the good news presented to the Cosmetic businesses is the reduction of Sales Tax from 10% to 5% and it also applies to handphone accessories businesses. The reaction and feedback from the cosmetic business yesterday was very positive and it driven them to go for production of Halal Cosmetic.
In order to promote Halal awareness and its market locally and globally, I would strongly suggest to the Minister of Finance to consider lowering the Sales Tax of 10% to 5% to all Halal certified Industry Manufacturer or Businesses in Malaysia so that they can grow local Halal economy and compete with bigger players and thus promoting Malaysia as one of the biggest exporters of Halal products.
Malaysia is one of the important Halal Hub for exportation of Halal goods to other countries such as China, Middle East and more; offering not only Halal foods products but also Halal Cosmetics, Halal Lifestyle, Halal Logistics, Halal Tourism & Hospitality and Halal Pharmaceutical.
The potential of halal economy is vast with participating countries such as UAE – visioning to become one of the center of Islamic economy, Thailand – large producer of Halal processed food and visioning to become Kitchen of the World, Brunei – visioning to become Google for Halal, Japan – Halal as key source contributor to its economy by 2020, China – domestic market is increasing by 10% per annum, Brazil – largest supplier of poultry meat, and Australia – largest supplier of halal beef.
In the Halal Industry Masterplan (2008 – 2020), Malaysia has been aiming to grow as a Global Halal Hub to serve Muslim population in other countries such as South East Asia, Europe, China, and Africa by becoming a Centre of Innovation, Trade & Investment, Global Reference Centre, focusing on promoting sectors such as Processed Foods, Ingredients, Cosmetics, and Personal Care.
With the reduction of the Sales Tax, it will definitely help the businesses to promote Malaysia Halal market and explore the vast potential to venture into export of Halal products internationally.