The Youth And Malaysian 2018 Budget

Young people are social actors of change and progress. They are a crucial segment of a nation's development. In general, it is seen that all citizens have to be included in building or developing a nation. Thus, the involvement of youth in national development is a must because they play one of the most important roles in nation building. According to recent report on population in Malaysia, the working population nearly captured more than 60% of overall population. The concern on youth as the agent of economic booster is applied and shown in how big the literacy rate of that nation. The overall youth literacy rate is 98.42%. Youth literacy rate definition covers the population between the ages of 15 to 24 years.
Several initiatives by the government have been laid out in the proposed 2018 budget in accordance with the youth assessment. These are designed to aid people, especially the young generation of Malaysia in generating income. Few examples are:
1) eRezeki, eUsahawan dan eLadang programme (RM100m)
2) Easy loans for Food Truck 1Malaysia (FT1M) through Bank Rakyat with interest rate of 2% (RM120m)
3) 1AZAM Programme to increase revenue (RM60m)
4) Construction of new UTC, Blue Ocean Entrepreneur Township, Mobile CTC, Entrepreneurship programme, Global Entrepreneurship Community as well as inclusive and vibrant Social Entrepreneurs (RM300) as part of National Blue Ocean Shift (NBOS) initiative
5) Various Bumiputera entrepreneurship enhancement programmes (i.e., PUNB Entrepreneurship and Business Premise Programme (RM200m))
These programs basically directed the young generation to take more part in the real sector of economy. The youth especially in today's generation has advantage of the being literate in utilization of technology and this is helpful to boost the economic excellence in innovation of new products that can compete with the rest of the world.

Youth Entrepreneurship initiatives: Youth Entrepreneurship initiatives offered by the government include RM100 million for the eRezeki, eUsahawan and eLadang under the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). All of these government Programmes, such as eRezeki, eUsahawan and eLadang, encourages youths to venture into entrepreneurship if they can't find a stable employment. These initiatives will kickstart businesses created by the youths." For example, the eRezeki programme provide training in using digital technology to develop businesses and also working part-time to gain additional income.

So, among the youths whose are taking the risk to establish a business instead of being employed, as many are utilising the wide approach of social media to spread their business. However, before the youth start their first steps as an entrepreneur, they should at least attend a business course and have an effective supervision to guide them in their business so that they can be successful and not failing. So, youth would be able to get training through eRezeki programme to be a successful entrepreneur.

Development of Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Youth Entrepreneurship
Small and medium enterprise has become a back stone from a long time ago in the Malaysian economic history.  Also SME has given a lot contribution toward the development of Malaysian economy, social uplifting and also political stability. Due to these contributions many agencies and especially government agencies, should give additional concern to the SME. In order to strengthen the SME government put their focus on the budget 2018. To enhance the performance and competitiveness of SME in the country government provide a lot of programs. Not only programs that government offers but the most important thing is the financial allocation.

The definition of Small and medium enterprises (SMEs)in Malaysia have been reclassified as companies whose annual turnover is less than 50 million with workers not exceeding 200 for the manufacturing sector, from the current definition of less than RM 25 million in revenue and less than 150 workers, Bernama reported. In addition ,"98% of businesses in Malaysia are actually SMEs, and out of that, 65% contribute to the employment and in terms of GDP, SMEs contribute almost 36%, and 18% of SMEs contribute to our total exports. I think it is a very significant portion of this ecosystem that we need to give focus on. The budget 2018 was wisely tabled by the Prime Minister in which put an attention to the SMEs. Furthermore, the role of government is needed as to develop SME particularly in the small regionsj. In budget 2018 the bigger allocation for the National Entrepreneur Group Economic Fund (Tekun) amounting to RM500million and RM200million for microcredit facility Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) will assist small-scale entrepreneurs to develop their businesses, it is a smart action to focus by government.

The objective of this section is to identify the performance of youth entrepreneurship involved in micro SMEs in Malaysia. Specifically, the study analyses the relationship of infrastructure facility, business support facility and government policy with the performance of youth entrepreneurs. Concentration to youth is crucial, as they are the people who will running the next stage of the country.  They can contribute significantly to the development of the country. The ability to harness their potential will helps to determine Malaysia strength and resilience in pursuing social, economic and political development. According to Institute of Youth Research Malaysia (IYRS), in 2014 youth population in Malaysia for aged between 15 to 30 years are 9.1 million which represent 30 per cent of the population.

Youth entrepreneurship can be defined as the youth who can run or capable in allocating the initiative, innovation, and creativity into work environment by using an particular skills to achieve the success. By encouraging youth entrepreneurship it can counter the issue of unemployment of youth people. There are several major areas the government support for the SME's in Malaysia, which are: financial and credit assistance; technical and training assistance; extension and advisory services; marketing and market research; and infrastructure supports (Skuras et al., 2003). Another government provision is management expertise, land/building facilities, and information about the market and tax deduction (Oshikoya, 2007; Zellner,1962).

However a number of program and support were given by the Malaysian government agencies through the government business support services in providing guide to suit the current needs of the SMEs and business environment. Among agencies involved are Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA), SME Bank Sdn Bhd (SME Bank), SME Corporation Berhad (SME Corp), Credit Guarantee Corporation (CGC) and National SMEs Development Council (NSDC). The contributions of these agencies are well recognized and have great impacts on the SMEs growth.

In the budget 2018 government was highlighted for SMEs enhancement are: Skim Jaminan Pembiayaan Perniagaan for working capital and services sector: (RM7b); Government Guarantee loans under SJPP to enable SMEs to automate production: (RM1b); Shariah-compliant SME Financing Scheme with subsidy rate of 2%: (RM1b); Soft loans, grants and training programs for SME under SME Corp: (RM200m); and Development of halal industries and products under various agencies: (RM82m).

Authors: 

HERBI ARFAH RENALDI, FARHAD AHMAD, ANUGERAH PRATAMA PUTRA