LONDON, 4 October 2004 — Malaysia is pitching itself as an investment profit center for advanced knowledge-based industries, fully aware of the rising competition for such investment from other East Asian countries such as South Korea, China, and even Thailand. Indeed, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, kicked off a two-week high-powered trade and investment mission in London on Friday, which is being followed up by visits over the next ten days to Zurich, Stuttgart, Berlin, and culminating in Paris on Oct. 12.
This time he comes to London armed with yet another election victory under his belt — that of the chairmanship and leadership of UMNO (United Malays National Organization) party, the dominant partner in the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition. No other leader of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) countries can boast a ‘legitimacy quotient’ than that of the Malaysian premier.
As president and CEO of Malaysia Inc., Prime Minister Badawi refrained from the hard-sell of the usual macro-economic indicators — 6 to 7 percent projected GDP growth for 2004; no de-linking of the Malaysian ringgit from the US dollar (at least not in the foreseeable future); promoting of fair and equal alliances of multilateral trade and investment; and maintaining a low inflation and low unemployment monetary policy environment.
This was the beginning of a targeted roadshow to promote Malaysia as a regional hub for advanced petrochemical industries; biotechnology; precision machinery and equipment; photonics; biometrics; electronics manufacturing; medical devices; and agribusiness — not only to cater for the Malaysian market but also the 530 million strong ASEAN free trade area. Petronas, the national oil company, is emerging as one of the largest oil and petrochemical companies in the world with a presence in several developing companies.
As part of Prime Minister Badawi’s so-called ‘agro-revolution’, agriculture and agribusiness is once again at the top end of the government agenda, partly also to help alleviate rural poverty and to leverage on the countries commodities resources. The government is also keen to leverage the country’s huge rainforest biodiversity to attract cutting edge biotechnology research and industries.
Malaysia, he added, has several market advantages over its regional rivals, stressed Badawi. English is the official language of business and is widely taught and spoken in the country. Similarly, the Malaysian legal system is based on the English legal system, which is a major advantage especially for international corporations who prefer to do business on a legal and contract basis that they are familiar with. The country’s physical, financial, legal and regulatory infrastructure is second to none. Over the last decade, as part of the country’s 2020 Vision, the government has allocated huge resources in developing a knowledge and IT-based work force.
Badawi’s style is much more relaxed than his predecessor Dr. Mahathir Mohamed. This applies to problems with agents, who in the words of Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz, the seasoned Malaysian international trade & industry minister, “are fleecing foreign companies.”Foreign companies, she stressed, of course can recruit directly, and there are no restrictions in employing appropriate expatriate staff. The government also went out of its way to stress Malaysian compliance with international patent, copyright and intellectual property rights, to give comfort especially to companies at the cutting edge of nanotechnology and biotechnology industries.
The Multimedia Super Corridor, with its Multimedia University, and the Cyberjaya complex, the Malaysian version of Silicon Valley, is well up and running, and has attracted tens of international and regional companies, which have relocated their regional R&D and other capabilities there. Indeed, the Kuwait Petroleum Investment Corporation is also in the process of opening a regional office in Malaysia, with the aim of exploring exploration and other opportunities in the region.
The Badawi government is overhauling the education system to make it even more technology-friendly. Malaysian youth, for instance, will no longer be able to leave secondary school after two years with a certificate. They will have to complete the full five or six years of secondary school. The curriculum has also been boosted to include compulsory subjects such as CadCam, Technology and Design, Computing etc.
The government is also introducing a new diploma in technical assistance, which would be awarded to successful students after two extra years of studies post-secondary education. Students who continue with their studies will then enter the tertiary education sector. Badawi was frank when he said that Malaysia is no longer interested in welcoming labor-intensive industries and investment in such industries. There are over three million unskilled foreign workers in the country and any further rise in their numbers would be socially and politically unsustainable. The prime minister also confirmed that training and re-training is a major priority and the government has set aside additional funds for this purpose.