KUALA LUMPUR (July 6): The Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) has called on the government to introduce a transparent whistle-blowing mechanism to curb abuse, collusion and cronyism in the approval of grants and financing for SMEs.
Samenta president Datuk William Ng said that while most grant and financing agencies had migrated to digital systems to improve transparency and reduce manual intervention, the systems could still be manipulated by insiders familiar with the process.
"A transparent whistle-blowing mechanism must be introduced to allow those with information on malpractice, collusion or cronyism to report such cases to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission or the integrity units within the relevant ministries without fear of repercussions," he said in a statement on Monday.
Ng was responding to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's remarks over the weekend that the practice of using letters of support, political connections and cronyism to secure financing approvals for entrepreneurs must come to an end.
He said decades of rent-seeking and political patronage had distorted the entrepreneurial ecosystem by allowing public funds to be allocated based on political connections rather than commercial merit.
As a result, deserving SMEs are crowded out of access to financing, while agencies tasked with developing the sector are left burdened with non-performing loans, he said.
Ng also urged government agencies to publish regular reports on financing recipients, approval rates, average processing times and sectoral default rates to improve transparency and accountability.
He said greater disclosure would strengthen governance and complement the government's efforts to eliminate political patronage in the disbursement of grants and financing for SMEs.
Ng added that Samenta is ready to work with the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives and its agencies to ensure government assistance is channelled to deserving SMEs based on merit, rather than political connections.