Youths today are confronted with significant challenges, including rising living costs, home ownership affordability, education burdens, and limited support for entrepreneurship. As the government prepares to table Budget 2025 on October 18, MCA Youth calls for the prioritisation of several key areas.
- Cost of Living: Maintain RON 95 subsidy to ease economic burdens.
MCA Youth urges the government to continue the RON 95 fuel subsidy for at least another year to mitigate economic pressures on youth. We recommend establishing a price cap mechanism to shield young people from rising fuel costs, using surplus funds from lower oil prices to support subsidies when needed.
- Home ownership: Expand first-time homebuyer incentives to support home ownership among youths.
MCA Youth advocates for expanding incentives for first-time homebuyers. This includes promoting a "rent-to-own" scheme and offering lower loan interest rates to ease financial strain for young homebuyers.
- Education: Increase assistance and rewards to alleviate student loan pressure.
MCA Youth proposes increasing the education assistance grant from RM150 to RM200 and providing a 20% discount for those who fully repay their National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loans. Additionally, we recommend interest rebates to encourage early repayment and incentives for companies that hire interns.
- Entrepreneurship: Strengthen university incubator programmes to promote youth entrepreneurship.
MCA Youth suggests allocating funds to support university incubator programs that can help young entrepreneurs turn their ideas into viable businesses. They also propose re-establishing the Malaysian SME Expansion Centre or similar organisations to offer consulting services to youth.
- Infrastructure and Environment: Accelerate green transformation and improve transportation.
MCA Youth emphasizes the need for accelerating green transformation and improving transportation. They recommend including "Park & Ride" facilities in new town plans and reviewing the legality of electric scooters for safety. Additionally, they call for the expedited construction of the East Coast Expressway Phase 3 and the expansion of EV charging stations.
- Tax Reform: Decrease the tax burdens on youths to promote social harmony.
MCA Youth advocates for tax reforms that reduce financial burdens on young people. This includes separating contributions for life insurance and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for different tax exemptions, raising the tax exemption cap for Private Retirement Schemes from RM3,000 to RM5,000, and increasing tax benefits for marriage and parenting to support young families.
MCA Youth urges the government to prioritise these proposals in Budget 2025, stressing the importance of addressing the real needs of youth to foster long-term national development. Listening to young voices is essential for shaping a sustainable future for the country.
Saw Yee Fung
MCA Youth Secretary General
16 October 2024
-MCA Comm-
