MUSA HITAM & ADVISORS; EXEMPT JOHOR from NEP to Move Forward; Only Hope to Attract Foreign Investors; Many Unawakened & Unenlightened will Oppose
Johor investor perks unlikely to create Malay backlash
Firms' exemption from affirmative action is balanced with setting up of fund for residents
By Carolyn Hong; The Straits Times
WHEN former deputy premier Tun Musa Hitam suggested that
But this is on a far larger scale. It includes many more sectors in the service industry. Analysts say the bold incentives showed that the government is serious about attracting investments in a project that Datuk Seri Abdullah has personally identified as his brainchild. But there is concern about possible political backlash. Some observers have interpreted the incentives as a move to pave the way for eventual scrapping of
'It would be an exit route, politically,' Mr Manu Bhaskaran, a Singapore-based partner at economic research firm Centennial Group, was quoted as saying yesterday. But rolling back the NEP in Umno's stronghold state may not go down well amid angst over foreigners taking over the state's economy. Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman, however, insists that there will not be political fallout. 'It is a very defined area, and at the same time there is also scope for bumiputera participation,' he told reporters after the incentives were announced yesterday. An aide to PM Abdullah told The Straits Times that there was a conscious effort to balance the incentives with the setting up of the Social Projects Fund for investors to contribute to.
The fund could be used to build low-cost houses, or for small bumiputera vendor development. It is understood that the government's investment arm Khazanah Nasional, which is driving the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) initiative, has received investor feedback that they would prefer to contribute to a fund than have restrictions on ownership and employment. Khazanah also believed Malaysians would take up the majority of the 817,500 jobs expected to be created within 20 years. The Straits Times understands that Tun Musa has agreed to go to the ground to speak to grassroots Umno leaders, if necessary, to explain the decision. Johor Baru MP Datuk Shahrir Samad said there would not be a backlash if Malays and local investors were not crowded out. 'Would existing companies also benefit from the tax holiday and other incentives? It should, otherwise it will raise charges of unfair competition,' he said.
He added that there was no problem even if the IDR incentives heralded the phasing out of the NEP nationwide. 'The PM has said it would end by 2020, that's nothing new,' he said.
Musa: Brief Umno on why it has to give up NEP
JOHOR BARU: Umno should have a special briefing to explain to its members why it was time to give up the New Economic Policy (NEP) for the success of the Iskandar Development Region (IDR). Iskandar Development Region Authority (IRDA) advisory council member Tun Musa Hitam who proposed this also volunteered to be one of the speakers at the briefing. He said that there were already hundreds of Malays who had the capability to do business and on merit. As someone who had been active in Umno for several decades, Musa said, he realised that there was a need to have a change in mindset to draw investors to the country.
"The briefing should explain what the IDR is, its implications to the country and to the Malays," he said during a press conference at
Musa also said that foreign investors who came to the country were not interested in the NEP, cronyism or nepotism as their primary focus was on making money. He suggested that instead of imposing conditional approvals, a more palatable method would be to provide potential foreign and local investors with a list of Malay entrepreneurs who were capable of doing business and leaving it the investors to decide. Musa said that he had already asked for a computerised master list of all Malay entrepreneurs to be drawn up and the list would include their current grades as well as their past performance and track record which would be made available to any investor. "The IDR is an opportunity to demonstrate that we have arrived and we are able to do this," he said.
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ABOVE:Tun Dr Ismail, extract from LensaPress Photo
Musa Told Aspiring Leaders To Emulate Tun Dr Ismail
ABOVE; Tun Musa Hitam at the book Launch, extract from LensaPress Photo
This goes to all aspiring and current leaders. When you want to serve as a political leader or be in the public sector, it should be service before self," he said. Earlier, Musa launched a book by author Ooi Kee Beng, titled "The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr Ismail And His Time", at
When launching the 311-page book, he said that Dr Ismail was a modern and progressive leader and did not fit into the "Melayu Lama" category although he lived in that era. Musa said that Dr Ismail contributed greatly in shaping up his political career, admitting that he never stopped from being overawed by the man.
He further said that Dr Ismail never suffered from the "Singapore Syndrome" and was an admirer of
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Many of your own beliefs work for you for a certain period of your life. Many children at one time or another believe that their parents are omnipotent giving them a sense of security. Then in later adolescent years the same offspring are shocked to discover their parents to be quite human and fallible; the inadequacy and inferiority the older generations and the callousness of those in control of them.And this is the same with the NEP, they are holding these believes way beyond its advantages state for them. But if this concept is held on FAR too long as the nation grows older it becomes highly restrictive and eventually structured and stifled the nation’s progress. There is an added twist here: that in the process of becoming a nation, we must also learn when to let go the NEP ; for change, growth and evolution - the elements of the process of becoming -are impossible without this.
This bold and pragmatic suggestion by the Advisory team to IDR is the true power in the imagination which dares to speculate upon the exemption of the NEP - that which is not yet. This suggestion backed by great expectations, can bring about almost any reality within the range of probabilities for the success of IDR.
The future is a probability. In terms of ordinary experience, nothing exists there yet. It is virgin territory, planted by your feelings and thoughts in the present. Therefore if we will plant accomplishments and successes, and we will do this by remembering that nothing can exist in the future that we do not want to be there. But will the un-awakened and unenlightened see the light at the end of the tunnel for such important core believes to be abandoned after receiving such support for almost 36 years? As the cabinet is prepared to scuttle and delay the FTA with US in “the interest of the people and the country” in the negotiations then there is little hope for IDR to take off if some of the rules are not relaxed. Precedents had been set when the MSC companies were also exempted from the NEP restrictions.
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By Angus Whitley and Haslinda Amin
March 21 (Bloomberg) --
``It would be an exit route, politically,'' said Manu Bhaskaran, a Singapore-based partner at economic research company Centennial Group. Johor ``is an extremely important project. The affirmative action program and all the related problems do turn off foreign investors.'' Foreign direct investment in
The February report by the Centre for Public Policy Studies, controlled by ASLI, said ethnic Malays may own as much as 45 percent of
``There needs to be a revision, updating, of the way we approach it.'' Incentives to take part in the Southern Johor Economic Region are being finalized, Musa said. Middle Eastern and Japanese investors are among those that have agreed to plow funds into Johor, he said. The 2,216-square-kilometer development will include roads, offices, homes, theme parks, hotels, factories and hospitals and is
The site will generate more than 800,000 jobs in 20 years, Prime Minister Abdullah said in November. It may boost growth in Johor to an average of 7 percent from 2005 to 2025, compared with 5.5 percent without the revamp, Khazanah said. Reaching the project's targets, without the affirmative action program, would allow the government to remove the policy in other areas, said Bhaskaran at Centennial Group. ``This is a very clever way,'' he said. ``It shows that at the top ranks of the system there are people who are thinking well.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Angus Whitley in
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Musa: Drop race quota to help woo foreign investors to
KUALA LUMPUR (March 21, 2007): Former deputy prime minister Tun Musa Hitam says the government should exempt the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) in South Johor from policies that favour the bumiputras to help attract foreign investors to the huge growth area. Musa, who sits in an advisory panel for the project, said policies that gave the bumiputras privileged access to government contracts and guarantee a minimum presence in the workplace may deter foreign companies interested in investing in the IDR. According to a Bloomberg report based on an interview with the former DPM, Musa said contract awards "will have to be on merit". "The Malays will have to face competition," he said. The IDR is the largest development project announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to push economic growth. He is seeking foreign investors to help fund the RM383 billion two-decade-long project that will transform Johor.
Musa sits on the advisory council for the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) that drives the mega project. The other members are Tan Sri Samsudin Osman, Malaysian sugar king Robert Kuok Hock Nien, Tan Sri Kishu Tirathai and Datuk Panglima Andrew Sheng. Musa said the council agreed that the bumiputra programme should be dropped for the project. "I am confident that this bumiputra thing, if I may put it this way, need not be the negative factor, and I am stressing this in this particular exercise. "There needs to be a revision, updating, of the way we approach it," he told Bloomberg. He said incentives to take part in the IDR were being finalised, and Middle Eastern and Japanese investors were among those who had agreed to come in. Bloomberg also interviewed Manu Bhaskaran, a Singapore-based partner at economic research company Centennial Group, who said: "It would be an exit route, politically. Johor (the IDR) is an extremely important project. The affirmative action programme and all the related problems do turn off foreign investors."
Reaching the project’s targets, without the programme, would allow the government to remove the policy in other areas, he added. "It shows that at the top ranks of the system, there are people who are thinking well." Foreign direct investment in
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from theedgedaily.com
Like rival sisters embittered because one has good looks and money while the other lost out, wealthy
Under the plan to transform Jahor over the next 20 years, an industrial precinct, schools and hospitals will also be built. The government is also studying a proposal to create free access zones in certain areas in Johor where visitors from
In 2006, Johor received about 23,500 visitors from
which is spearheading the plan. Singaporean businessmen, burnt in the past by grandiose ideas for Johor, are cautious over concerns about rampant crime, corruption and lack of government transparency. Malaysian officials have made few details public on fund-raising plans. But they are trying to woo international investors to the massive project, and say French, German and Singapore firms are keen on locating in the industrial park. The Johor development plans offer the biggest fillip for the region's
property industry since the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, from which the sector has not yet recovered, said real estate agent Samuel Tan, who has worked there for 23 years. "There is a symbiotic relationship. Whatever the political situation may be, ordinary businessmen are very pragmatic, we learn to live with it."
Already 50,000 Johor residents travel to jobs in the city state each day, and Singapore-based firms are among Johor's largest employers. But suspicions remain. "Sometimes I wonder if the reason we share this unexplained hostility towards each other is because we're actually quite similar," Malaysian columnist Gavin Yap wrote in the New Sunday Times recently. "
1 Comments:
Its not totally unprecedented. In the export manufacturing industry, whether in the Free Industrial Zones or Licensed Manufacturing Warehouses, many NEP requirements are set aside or watered down to encourage foreign investment.
Of course there is still the suspicion that the regulations can be reimposed at any moment (the relevant regulations are all still fully in place), so this still deters some foreign companies, especially industries which take many years to payback the investment.
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