A TOTAL of 82,555 new businesses were registered with the Companies Commission of Malaysia between April 1 and July 19, far exceeding the number of businesses that closes, said Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Rosol Wahid.

Only, 4,542 businesses served their winding up notice in the period as the country went through various stages of lockdown, beginning with the strict movement control order (MCO), to the laxer conditional MCO and the current recovery MCO.

Rosol was replying in Parliament to Tan Kok Wai’s (Cheras-PH), who wanted to know the number of businesses that closed between April and July, as well as the number of new businesses that registered.

“It is normal for people who lose their jobs or get retrenched during an economic downturn to register a new business,” the deputy minister said. 

“They have to find a way to carry on with life. It is wrong to say that Malaysians are lazy, if they are constrained, they will find a way.”

Ahmad Maslan’s (Pontian-BN) asked whether these companies were online businesses or tax-exemption vehicles. 

Rosol said most of the businesses were e-commerce setups, as the MCO was still in place and many brick and mortar shops were not allowed to operate. – July 29, 2020.