On the Right Track

What do you identify as the key factors that make Malaysia an attractive destination for foreign investors?

Firstly let us consider the ease of doing business in Malaysia. The infrastructure is well developed. We started with the manufacturing sector about 40-50 years ago, and over the years we have invested a lot in physical infrastructure such as ports, roads, and telecommunications because connectivity is very important. You need to have all this in place so that the companies that manufacture goods will have easy access to the markets from Malaysia. Number two is education in Malaysia. English is taught from standard one, so communication for international companies doing business in Malaysia is easy. You will not find any difficulty traveling anywhere in the country; people will understand you. Another is political stability—our government is a parliamentary democracy. The rule of law is based on British common law, so that is another great advantage. That is the base upon which this country is founded. The government has introduced many initiatives, such as the Economic Transformation Programme(ETP) and Government Transformation Programme (GTP). Even the collaboration between the government and the private sector makes the ease of business meaningful. The private sector and government work together and analyze what helps businesses to grow. Those are a few areas we can highlight. Of course, the location is also vital. The strategy in this region, with Malaysia chairing ASEAN 2015, is to move us to the next level. Within ASEAN, we are already a free trade area. Malaysia has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with many countries. The framework is already in place. Market access from Malaysia is easy with all this in place.

To what do you attribute Malaysia’s continued success?

We want to continue to grow by strengthening the business environment, and improving the atmosphere for business. We are introducing new policies and fine-tuning old policies so that things will get better. Moving forward, to be competitive, we feel that we have to move up the value chain. Malaysia started as an agriculture-based economy, but over the years we have become more knowledge based with more R&D activities in the manufacturing sector.

What are you doing to boost domestic investments?

Domestic and foreign investments co-exist. We are giving equal emphasis to both of them because we want to strengthen the eco-system, not only the supply chain but also the infrastructure, rules and regulations, trade agreements, investment agreements, and so forth. A strong supply chain is also important as you need to have strong domestic supporting industries for foreign investment to come. If they want to make goods, Malaysia has many supporting industries that can help them manufacture.

How will increased integration between ASEAN nations make Malaysia and the region more attractive for investors?

Over the years, we have been doing business with many countries. We have about 8,000 multinational or foreign companies doing business in Malaysia. We cannot be alone. That is why we need each other in ASEAN. Moving forward, I think Malaysia and the rest of ASEAN need to invest in each other to increase trade and linkages. The ecosystem is within Malaysia, but you can extend it to ASEAN to make it more vibrant and access more opportunities. If investors are already in Malaysia, they can invest in ASEAN, and vice versa. We have a lot of intra-ASEAN activities, so it will be more exciting. Each country has its own competitive advantage. ASEAN has its own competitive advantages as well. Businessmen will look for opportunities everywhere. If there is competition, that is good, but Malaysia has its own strengths and there are a lot of opportunities behind that strength.