Will Malaysia dare to scrap bumiputera policy?

The Straits Times, March 3, 2007
By Chew Hock Choon

This commentary, translated from Chinese, appeared in Malaysia's Nanyang Siang Pau. The writer is the paper's deputy news editor.


ISKANDAR DEVELOPMENT REGION
Will Malaysia dare to scrap bumiputera policy?

MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi held a special talk with his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting in Helsinki in September last year.

The focus of the meeting was to seek Singapore's support for the South Johor Economic Region (now known as Iskandar Development Region or IDR) announced in March that year.

PM Lee said after the meeting that Singapore gave its full support to the project. PM Abdullah also likened Singapore and Johor to Hong Kong and Shenzhen respectively.

Without a hinterland, Singapore, a city-state, may eventually experience a bottleneck despite its rapid economic rise.

Malaysia's willingness to view South Johor as 'Shenzhen' to Singapore is precisely what PM Lee wishes for, as it means that the Republic will have a hinterland for economic expansion.

In the long run, such economic infiltration can change political antagonism and prompt both countries to move towards harmonious cooperation.

From Malaysia's viewpoint, the economic gap between Singapore and Johor has been growing since the separation of Malaysia and Singapore. Johor can capitalise on Singapore's strength to upgrade its economic development and even boost the overall situation with a small breakthrough based on the development concept of the Shenzhen economic zone.

This, of course, is the superficial condition. Some people interpret the Hong Kong and Shenzhen concept differently. They are certain to ask: 'Will Singapore 'gobble up' this 'Shenzhen' or will Singapore eventually be 'swallowed' by 'Shenzhen'?

Honestly speaking, it is not apt to liken Singapore and South Johor to Hong Kong and Shenzhen. After all, Hong Kong will eventually return to the mainland even though China has guaranteed it 50 years of status quo.

On the other hand, there have been conflicts between Singapore and Malaysia. Both need to cooperate as they compete with each other and even while they cooperate, they will not give up competing. Their relationship is one of friends competing with each other. This kind of cooperation will have to stand the test of time.

After launching the IDR Nusajaya project last Friday, PM Abdullah said a more concrete investment incentive policy would be announced next month.

Earlier on, some people have given the economic zone five years to prove its success. Actually, it is not necessary to wait that long. What determines its success is the policy of the economic zone itself.

It all depends on how daring and open you can be. The more daring and open the policy is, the greater the chances of success for the IDR.

A daring and open policy will be to scrap the bumiputera policy in the special economic zone.