KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 — Former deputy minister of international trade and industry (Miti) Ong Kian Ming today said the unity government was showing signs of complacency when it came to creating a compelling narrative to attract foreign investments and steer the national economy.
The complacency was caused by US-China tensions, which meant Malaysia was taking for granted that investments would come the country’s way, he said on the podcast ‘Keluar Sekejap’.
“Maybe, for now, I think there is something a little like complacency.
“The complacency is because okay, China and the United States have tensions, so investments will come to South-east Asia and Malaysia will definitely be a beneficiary,” he told podcast hosts Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Sufian Hamdan, who are also former Umno members.
He added that he did not agree with this apparent attitude of complacency, saying that the country needs a more targeted and accurate strategy as well as a strong and firm narrative.
“What is the narrative we are telling them to come to Malaysia and invest?” he asked.
Ong had been asked by the podcast hosts for his take on the narrative established by the unity government after nearly six months in power.
Shahril said that a narrative has yet to be established, while Khairy said that financial scandals aside, former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was also finance minister at the time, had a clear vision that his policies followed.
Both Shahril and Khairy agreed that the vision must come from the prime minister despite the power of the minister of investment, trade and industry.
Khairy went on to say that since current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had been “auditioning” for the job for many years, he must have an economic vision in mind.
Ong agreed, bringing up the lack of narratives for digital economies followed by the lack of certainty for the implementation of 5G networks.
“(5G) is something that is important for the digital economy, but when such an important issue has no firm direction, then we will see what is happening now: the lack of focus and direction on certain investment and economic narratives,” Ong said.
When asked by Khairy what he would say to Anwar in an elevator pitch if Ong was the Miti minister and how the latter would sell Malaysia in terms of its advantages against its competitors in the region, Ong said that he would focus on prioritising the digital economy, taking advantage of Malaysia’s superior positioning against Singapore in terms of costs, bringing global service centres to the country, attracting good quality investments from China, and using a new narrative to create momentum for free trade agreements.
