THE Malaysia Micro Business Association (MAMBA) has called for a coordinated national strategy to develop Malaysian businesses into regional and global players, warning that growing competition from inexpensive imports could undermine local manufacturers and small businesses.
The call comes after Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the government was reviewing products contributing to Malaysia’s trade deficit with China, including goods once manufactured locally but now increasingly imported.
Malaysia recorded a trade deficit of RM163.4 bil with China in 2025, which widened to RM159.8 bil in the first eight months of 2026, according to figures reported from parliamentary disclosures.
The minister said the government was examining whether some products could be manufactured locally again.
MAMBA secretary-general Alvin Low Wei Yan said the situation should prompt policymakers, businesses and consumers to reconsider Malaysia’s long-term industrial competitiveness.
“We are witnessing the gradual erosion of our domestic industrial base. Malaysian MSMEs are increasingly competing against imported products manufactured at enormous scale, often at prices that local businesses simply cannot match,” he noted.
“If this continues unchecked, we risk killing off the very businesses that create local jobs, develop Malaysian entrepreneurs and sustain our communities.”
Low warned that the decline of domestic manufacturing could also encourage skilled young Malaysians to seek opportunities overseas if local industries were unable to provide sufficient career prospects.
While cheaper imports may benefit consumers in the short term, he said, the loss of domestic production capacity could have longer-term consequences for employment, wages and local supply chains.
“Once our factories close, our suppliers disappear and our entrepreneurs abandon their businesses, rebuilding those capabilities will be extremely difficult. We cannot become a nation that merely consumes what others manufacture,” he opined.
Low said Malaysia should draw lessons from the development of homegrown companies such as Proton, Perodua and PETRONAS, which helped build domestic industrial capabilities and created opportunities for supporting businesses.
He also cited SapuraKencana Petroleum as an example of a Malaysian enterprise that developed capabilities to compete internationally in the oil and gas services industry.
These companies demonstrated how government support, investment in technology, local supply chains and talent development could help Malaysian businesses expand beyond the domestic market, he said.
“There was a time when Malaysia dared to think big. We did not simply ask how to attract foreign companies to sell their products here. We asked how to build Malaysian companies capable of competing with the best in the world,” Low continued.
“We invested in industries, developed local supply chains, facilitated technology transfers and cultivated Malaysian talent.
“Not every initiative succeeded, but these efforts created industrial capabilities, employment opportunities and businesses that would otherwise never have existed.”
MAMBA proposed that Malaysia develop a comprehensive “Made in Malaysia” industrial and enterprise development strategy, drawing lessons from China’s Made in China 2025 initiative and other national industrial policies.
Low said China’s manufacturing strength had been built through sustained investment in infrastructure, technology, financing, domestic supply chains and export capabilities.
“We should learn from China’s success rather than merely complain about the competitiveness of Chinese products. If China can systematically develop its domestic industries into global powerhouses, why can’t Malaysia adopt a similarly ambitious approach suited to our own strengths?” he said.
He said the strategy should help micro and small enterprises participate in emerging industries and develop into larger, internationally competitive businesses.
“We cannot expect tomorrow’s Malaysian multinational corporations to emerge if today’s micro and small businesses cannot survive.
“Every regional champion started somewhere. Our responsibility is to create an ecosystem where a Malaysian entrepreneur with a promising product or technology has a realistic opportunity to grow from a small enterprise into an ASEAN leader,” Low said. ‒ Focus Malaysia
