The Department of Business and Public Administration of the Faculty of Business and Finance (FBF) organised a talk titled “Is ESG A Scam?” on 17 August 2023 at UTAR Kampar Campus. The talk was delivered by the Founder of First Penguin, a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Consultant and an inspiring Social Entrepreneur Dr Wong Lai Yong.

Dr Wong started the talk by explaining the meaning of Environmental Social Governance (ESG). She then highlighted the differences among ESG, CSR, Creating Shared Value (CSV) and SDGs. She further elaborated on the current issues of ESG investing, the importance of ESG, how ESG is related to business, and how ESG would solve world issues. The talk was concluded by rationalising why ESG is not a scam. Students and staff took the opportunity to engage in a Q&A session.

Additionally, the Department of Business and Public Administration of FBF organised another talk titled “Sales and Service Tax Overview” on the same day at UTAR Kampar Campus. The talk was delivered by Senior Assistant Director of Customs Puan Sunarti Atep and Assistant Director of Customs Tuan Hasnool Hadi bin Ab Rahim.

Puan Sunarti started the talk by providing an overview of sales and service tax. Subsequently, she invited Tuan Hasnool to continue the talk by explaining why GST was replaced by SST in Malaysia. Tuan Hasnool highlighted the advantages of SST which include providing a broader safety net under SST, providing smaller coverage of goods and services under SST, and providing a distinction between single-stage SST vs multi-stage GST.

Tuan Hasnool continued by explaining the differing thresholds for SST1.0 and SST2.0. He further elaborated on the designated areas that are exempted from SST. He clarified that goods exempted under SST can be classified as all goods manufactured for export that are exempted from sales tax. Other goods that are specifically exempted include live animals, fish, seafood, and certain essential food items, including meat, milk, eggs, vegetables, fruits, and bread. Books, magazines, newspapers, journals, and periodicals and all goods are subject to sales tax except those exempted under the Sales Tax (Goods Exempted from Tax) Order 2018 (e.g., live animals, unprocessed food, vegetables, medicines, machinery, and chemicals).

Tuan Hasnool further stated that sales tax is charged at the point of manufacture or importation. Subsequently, when the goods move through the supply chain, there is no requirement to charge sales tax anymore. Neither a wholesaler who sells the goods to a retailer nor the retailer who subsequently sells them to consumers is required to charge sales tax.

Tuan Hasnool concluded his talk by explaining the MySST – Sales and service tax system. The enlightening talk was followed by a Q&A session.

The two talks saw more than 110 participants comprising UTAR staff and students. 

As a gesture of appreciation from UTAR, Dean of FBF Assoc Prof Dr Au Yong Hui Nee, and Head of Business and Public Administration Dr Siti Fazilah binti Abdul Shukor were invited to present souvenirs to Dr Wong, Puan Sunarti and Tuan Hasnool. The talk sessions ended with a group photography. Overall, the talks received positive feedback from students and staff.