In Malaysia, foreigners ‘take advantage’ of marriage to locals to run businesses: minister

To protect small and medium-sized enterprises from foreign competition in Malaysia, only citizens and permanent residents were allowed to register sole proprietorships or partnerships, Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Deputy Minister Fuziah Salleh told parliament on Wednesday.

“However, there are foreigners who take advantage by registering businesses under the names of their local spouses,” she said, as quoted by the Malay Mail newspaper.

Though the ministry often received complaints from local traders about such businesses, authorities could not act as the business registrations had been legally carried out by their local spouses, she said.

“To date, the Companies Commission of Malaysia does not have any regulation barring individuals married to foreigners from registering a business.”

The ministry was mulling several suggestions from the public on how to deal with these situations, including allowing locals with foreign spouses to register businesses only after they had been married for a certain period of time – such as five years, for example, she said.