KUALA LUMPUR – The government has disbursed RM8.7 billion to more than 250,000 entrepreneurs so far this year, but Entrepreneurial Development and Cooperatives Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong acknowledged that more needs to be done to ensure Malaysians are aware of the assistance available to them.
Speaking in the latest episode of Trick Lama, co-hosted by Big Boom Media Group Chief Executive Officer Datuk Zainul Arifin, Group Editor-in-Chief Terence Fernandez and Group Executive Director Datuk Ahiruddin Attan, also known as Rocky Bru, Sim said the government needed to improve its communication efforts.
“I think communication must be improved. This is why I’m on this podcast. I think communication must be improved in general for the government.
“But it’s not easy. Communication is not easy in this world, in this age. There’s a proliferation of all sorts of information.”
Sim said the government was targeting RM15 billion in financing to be released into the market for entrepreneurs this year, with RM8.7 billion already disbursed as of the end of July.
He said the funding had benefited more than 250,000 entrepreneurs through various financing schemes and agencies under the Entrepreneurial Development and Cooperatives Ministry.
“So, people do know. Maybe not enough. These are microloans, at all levels,” he said.
Sim said the government had also increased the allocation available to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from RM50 billion under Budget 2026 to RM60 billion, following an additional RM10 billion allocation over the past six months.
“As it is in the 2026 Budget, SME allocation is already at its highest, RM50 billion. But within the last six months, the government has increased another RM10 billion, from RM50 billion to now RM60 billion,” he said.
“There is money on the table. I think that if there’s a takeaway from what I’m doing this year, it’s more money on the table, more money in the market, higher efficiency, lower cost of doing business. These are the three broad directions that we are heading.”
Sim said the proliferation of social media had made it harder for positive government initiatives to gain traction.
“I always say, the Chinese has this word, ‘好事不出门,坏事传千里’ — good things or good news doesn’t travel beyond your door, bad news travels a thousand miles,” he said.
“So it is easier to spread negativity, anger, hatred. It’s not easy to spread hope or love, for that matter, compassion.
“And I know it first-hand because things that we do, it doesn’t mean we should give up.”
Sim said the government needed to work collectively to ensure its policies reached the people who could benefit from them.
“All of us have to work harder together to ensure that positive news, good policies can be promoted,” he said.
“Not just because you want to help the government, but you want to help fellow entrepreneurs, for example, and fellow people who are under the protection of SOCSO, PERKESO, etc,” he said. – August 18, 2026