The Malaysia-China Business Council (MCBC) led by former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam announced that beginning next year, MCBC will, on one hand assist Malaysia's small and medium-size enterprises to invest in the China market, and on the other hand, MCBC will also persuade China's small and medium-size enterprises which are now facing hike in worker wages, to establish up their firms in Malaysia.
However, when we talk about mutual investment between Malaysia and China, there is indeed a big gap. According to the data provided by Chai Xi, the Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, the Malaysian investment in China is $6.2bil and the Chinese investment in Malaysia is only $0.3bil. Although our Malaysian cabinet ministers, Menteri Besar (chief of state) and chief ministers have repeatedly traveled to China with the aim to recruit more Chinese investors to Malaysia; and although the Chinese authority has also mentioned that Malaysia is a ‘qualified investment country’ and that the Chinese authority has also encouraged Chinese enterprises to invest in Malaysia, but the Chinese investment capital is still not forthcoming. It has not yet landed on the Malaysian ground but only wondering around the Malaysian border.
In response, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) MP (Member of Parliament) for Kota Belud, became angry and wanted the Malaysian Government to stop going to China to promote trade opportunities in Malaysia. He said that since the enterprises in China are not interested to invest overseas, it will be a waste of time and money for the Malaysian Government trying to urge the Chinese enterprises to come over to Malaysia.
However, according to Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Chai Xi's statement, as of 2010 there are already 12,000 Chinese funded corporations establishing as many as 13,000 companies overseas. These overseas Chinese corporations are spread through more than 170 countries in different regions. From such statistics, it is not at all true to say that the Chinese businesses and enterprises are not interested to venture and expand their business bases overseas. In fact, under China's current trade policy which put a lot of emphasis on wanting the domestic enterprises to ‘go out’ from China, we can expect more capital fund from China to continue flowing out from China in the coming years. It is thus up to Malaysia to see if we can attract Chinese enterprises to invest in Malaysia.
Malaysian Attitude Toward Chinese Investors
Why on earth then the Chinese businesses are willing to go to the other far end of the globe and invest in South America and are also willing to invest in African countries which have poorer basic infrastructure than Malaysia? Why should the Chinese investors avoid putting their investment in Malaysia, a country which is much nearer to China than other countries mentioned? Instead of carrying out any further argument with UMNO MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan, it might be better for Malaysia to reflect our attitude toward the Chinese investors.
In response, Chai Xi, the Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia commented that Malaysia's economic policy seems to have opened but in fact it is not opened.
Perhaps Ambassador Chai Xi's remarks can be difficult for investors from Europe, Japan and the United States to grasp the full meaning behind. But to the Chinese investors, Chai Xi's remarks have talked to their hearts. This is because Chinese investors can sense that the Malaysian Government has taken an ambiguous attitude and resisted the coming of the enterprises and corporations from China although Malaysia's official policy says that the country will welcome Chinese investors to Malaysia. The Chinese enterprises can sense that although the Malaysian Government has tried very hard to recruit Chinese investors to Malaysia, but the administrative system of the Malaysian Government has made their applications to do business and to invest their capital in Malaysia difficult. Many Malaysian government officials have taken the approach of ‘putting the application aside while waiting for the authority to approve.’ Moreover, the administrative section of the Malaysian Government has also given the Chinese investors too many excuses of why their applications for business cannot be approved earlier than expected. In the end such attitude of the Malaysian government officials ended up given the Chinese investors an impression that Malaysia really does not care much about foreign investment coming from China. Very often, the attitude of Malaysian government officials has made the Chinese investors come to realize the hard fact that it is difficult for them to doing business and invest their fund in Malaysia. In the end, many Chinese investors walk away and invest in other countries.
Engineering Projects
From what we observe, there are indeed some Malaysians who have adopted a sensitive attitude toward the flow of Chinese capital fund to Malaysia or toward the engineering projects tendered by the Chinese-funded corporations. The sensitivity of these people toward Chinese investors can even reach the stage of rejecting Chinese investment in Malaysia. In the end, these people used all kinds of measures to resist the investment coming from China. Certain sector of the Malaysian society also resists the engineering projects the Chinese funded corporations have openly expressed interest. These people almost always hold the views that any projects with the involvement of Chinese enterprises are ‘no good.’
For example, before the Second Penang Bridge Project participated by China Harbor Engineering Co Ltd has even begun the construction, some sector in the Malaysian society has already said that it was not right for the Chinese corporation to bring in 200 engineers from China to do the construction work. They said such action taken by the Chinese corporation will deprive the employment opportunities of Malaysian engineers. But in actual fact, such an allegation on the China Harbor Engineering Co Ltd is baseless. The rumor was spread by certain sector or people who are extremely sensitive to any investment coming from China.
China-Funded Corporations To Invest in Malaysia
Another example was that when government-linked Urban Development Authority (UDA) Holdings wanted to carry out the ‘Bukit Bintang City’ re-development project, China's Everbright International Construction Engineering Corporation (EICEC) has offered the best business deal to the UDA Holding by funding of this engineering work fully. While the success rate of EICEC in tendering this government engineering work then was almost certain, some sector of the Malaysian society has immediately attacked the UDA Holding for forgetting its responsibility as a government-linked corporation. They said UDA Holdings has ignored the interest of the bumiputera (indigenous people, the Malays). In the end, not only the executive chairman of the UDA Holdings suffered critical attack by certain sector, these people even wanted the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to carry out investigation on him. Such a dilemma is hardly encountered by other foreign investors in the country.
In this regard, we should not say that the businesses and enterprises from China are not interested to invest in Malaysia. Instead, we should come to the conclusion that it is because certain people in the Malaysian society are unwilling to accept the investment coming from China. These people made deliberate attempt to make Chinese investors to Malaysia difficult. As a result the Chinese investors have now taken a difficult attitude toward investing their money in Malaysia. This attitude is that they will respect Malaysia's trade and investment policy but they will not want to put their investment here.
China's Overseas Investment Capital
In any case, it is important for Malaysians to acknowledge the fact that China has already emerged as a major economic body in the world. It is inevitable that the massive Chinese investment capital will overflow overseas. It is also inevitable that in the coming years, the strength of the Chinese investment capital to other countries will be stronger than that Japan, Europe and the United States.
Whether Malaysia can share the cake of China's overseas investment capital; and whether if we want to accept the fact that the continual growth of China's economy can indeed benefit Malaysia or not will depend on the mentality of certain group toward China and the Chinese investors to Malaysia.
However, when we talk about mutual investment between Malaysia and China, there is indeed a big gap. According to the data provided by Chai Xi, the Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, the Malaysian investment in China is $6.2bil and the Chinese investment in Malaysia is only $0.3bil. Although our Malaysian cabinet ministers, Menteri Besar (chief of state) and chief ministers have repeatedly traveled to China with the aim to recruit more Chinese investors to Malaysia; and although the Chinese authority has also mentioned that Malaysia is a ‘qualified investment country’ and that the Chinese authority has also encouraged Chinese enterprises to invest in Malaysia, but the Chinese investment capital is still not forthcoming. It has not yet landed on the Malaysian ground but only wondering around the Malaysian border.
In response, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) MP (Member of Parliament) for Kota Belud, became angry and wanted the Malaysian Government to stop going to China to promote trade opportunities in Malaysia. He said that since the enterprises in China are not interested to invest overseas, it will be a waste of time and money for the Malaysian Government trying to urge the Chinese enterprises to come over to Malaysia.
However, according to Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Chai Xi's statement, as of 2010 there are already 12,000 Chinese funded corporations establishing as many as 13,000 companies overseas. These overseas Chinese corporations are spread through more than 170 countries in different regions. From such statistics, it is not at all true to say that the Chinese businesses and enterprises are not interested to venture and expand their business bases overseas. In fact, under China's current trade policy which put a lot of emphasis on wanting the domestic enterprises to ‘go out’ from China, we can expect more capital fund from China to continue flowing out from China in the coming years. It is thus up to Malaysia to see if we can attract Chinese enterprises to invest in Malaysia.
Malaysian Attitude Toward Chinese Investors
Why on earth then the Chinese businesses are willing to go to the other far end of the globe and invest in South America and are also willing to invest in African countries which have poorer basic infrastructure than Malaysia? Why should the Chinese investors avoid putting their investment in Malaysia, a country which is much nearer to China than other countries mentioned? Instead of carrying out any further argument with UMNO MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan, it might be better for Malaysia to reflect our attitude toward the Chinese investors.
In response, Chai Xi, the Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia commented that Malaysia's economic policy seems to have opened but in fact it is not opened.
Perhaps Ambassador Chai Xi's remarks can be difficult for investors from Europe, Japan and the United States to grasp the full meaning behind. But to the Chinese investors, Chai Xi's remarks have talked to their hearts. This is because Chinese investors can sense that the Malaysian Government has taken an ambiguous attitude and resisted the coming of the enterprises and corporations from China although Malaysia's official policy says that the country will welcome Chinese investors to Malaysia. The Chinese enterprises can sense that although the Malaysian Government has tried very hard to recruit Chinese investors to Malaysia, but the administrative system of the Malaysian Government has made their applications to do business and to invest their capital in Malaysia difficult. Many Malaysian government officials have taken the approach of ‘putting the application aside while waiting for the authority to approve.’ Moreover, the administrative section of the Malaysian Government has also given the Chinese investors too many excuses of why their applications for business cannot be approved earlier than expected. In the end such attitude of the Malaysian government officials ended up given the Chinese investors an impression that Malaysia really does not care much about foreign investment coming from China. Very often, the attitude of Malaysian government officials has made the Chinese investors come to realize the hard fact that it is difficult for them to doing business and invest their fund in Malaysia. In the end, many Chinese investors walk away and invest in other countries.
Engineering Projects
From what we observe, there are indeed some Malaysians who have adopted a sensitive attitude toward the flow of Chinese capital fund to Malaysia or toward the engineering projects tendered by the Chinese-funded corporations. The sensitivity of these people toward Chinese investors can even reach the stage of rejecting Chinese investment in Malaysia. In the end, these people used all kinds of measures to resist the investment coming from China. Certain sector of the Malaysian society also resists the engineering projects the Chinese funded corporations have openly expressed interest. These people almost always hold the views that any projects with the involvement of Chinese enterprises are ‘no good.’
For example, before the Second Penang Bridge Project participated by China Harbor Engineering Co Ltd has even begun the construction, some sector in the Malaysian society has already said that it was not right for the Chinese corporation to bring in 200 engineers from China to do the construction work. They said such action taken by the Chinese corporation will deprive the employment opportunities of Malaysian engineers. But in actual fact, such an allegation on the China Harbor Engineering Co Ltd is baseless. The rumor was spread by certain sector or people who are extremely sensitive to any investment coming from China.
China-Funded Corporations To Invest in Malaysia
Another example was that when government-linked Urban Development Authority (UDA) Holdings wanted to carry out the ‘Bukit Bintang City’ re-development project, China's Everbright International Construction Engineering Corporation (EICEC) has offered the best business deal to the UDA Holding by funding of this engineering work fully. While the success rate of EICEC in tendering this government engineering work then was almost certain, some sector of the Malaysian society has immediately attacked the UDA Holding for forgetting its responsibility as a government-linked corporation. They said UDA Holdings has ignored the interest of the bumiputera (indigenous people, the Malays). In the end, not only the executive chairman of the UDA Holdings suffered critical attack by certain sector, these people even wanted the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to carry out investigation on him. Such a dilemma is hardly encountered by other foreign investors in the country.
In this regard, we should not say that the businesses and enterprises from China are not interested to invest in Malaysia. Instead, we should come to the conclusion that it is because certain people in the Malaysian society are unwilling to accept the investment coming from China. These people made deliberate attempt to make Chinese investors to Malaysia difficult. As a result the Chinese investors have now taken a difficult attitude toward investing their money in Malaysia. This attitude is that they will respect Malaysia's trade and investment policy but they will not want to put their investment here.
China's Overseas Investment Capital
In any case, it is important for Malaysians to acknowledge the fact that China has already emerged as a major economic body in the world. It is inevitable that the massive Chinese investment capital will overflow overseas. It is also inevitable that in the coming years, the strength of the Chinese investment capital to other countries will be stronger than that Japan, Europe and the United States.
Whether Malaysia can share the cake of China's overseas investment capital; and whether if we want to accept the fact that the continual growth of China's economy can indeed benefit Malaysia or not will depend on the mentality of certain group toward China and the Chinese investors to Malaysia.
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