RKB INITIATIVE TRANSFORMS SME EXPERIENCE BY CUTTING RED TAPE, BOOSTING EFFICIENCY

By Siti Noor Afera Abu

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysia’s Bureaucratic Red Tape Reform (RKB) initiative is changing the narrative for many small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially those in the aerospace industry, who previously had to deal with bureaucratic obstacles that felt like navigating a maze, including lengthy approvals, repeated paperwork, and unpredictable delays.

According to Small and Medium Enterprises Association Malaysia (SAMENTA) national president Datuk William Ng, the reforms are already yielding tangible benefits for businesses and citizens alike.

He said the RKB initiative is helping SMEs focus on growth rather than paperwork, with faster approvals, clearer procedures, and digital processes, enabling businesses to operate more efficiently and plan better.

“The government, through RKB, has been receptive to our input and has taken considerable steps to eliminate bottlenecks such as duplicative licensing, slow approvals, inconsistent local authority practices and digital system gaps and to work with agencies to find solutions.

“The inclusion of SME voices, including micro-enterprises and family-run businesses, is crucial because they are the ones most affected by bureaucracy,” he told Bernama.

According to the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI), reducing financing barriers for businesses across sectors, including the aerospace industry, has increased production capacity by 30 per cent, enabling SMEs to break into original equipment manufacturer markets.

Immediate Impact on SMEs

Ng said the most immediate change that SMEs, especially aerospace companies, feel under the RKB is the reduction in waiting times for approvals.

He highlighted that the benefits are wide-ranging and significant, such as when dealing with banks for project or asset financing, resulting in quicker turnaround from various government agencies.

Ng stated that SMEs can submit more complete, accurate, and up-to-date information to banks, thereby enhancing processing and expediting approvals.

“The improvement essentially comes from the lower cost of doing business. Before RKB, SMEs lost a lot of time and money on administrative delays, waiting for approvals, travelling between agencies, re-submitting documents or hiring intermediaries to navigate unclear processes,” he said.

In short, Ng explained that margins rise because SMEs can operate more efficiently, plan better, and redeploy resources back into the business rather than into bureaucracy.

Recommendations to Enhance Next Phase of the Initiative

Ng said SAMENTA recommends several measures to further enhance the initiative to help SMEs focus on doing business.

He said the association has suggested a single national digital platform, possibly under MyDigital ID, where SMEs provide documents only once and all ministries can access them to eliminate duplication, as well as service-level guarantees for agencies to ensure SMEs have certainty about processing timelines.

Additional recommendations from SAMENTA include better harmonisation with local authorities, which remain the single largest source of bureaucratic friction for SMEs, and continuous engagement with trade associations to identify and resolve grassroots issues quickly.

“We strongly believe RKB must be a long-term, continually evolving initiative. The early results are promising, but we must move into a second phase that deepens its impact and ensures the reforms benefit SMEs in every sector and every region,” Ng added.

-- BERNAMA