China factor in GE14

Mahathir doesn't like investment from China and has frequently voiced his opposition against those Mainland Chinese investments, such as the Forest City condo-complex and ERCL.

He said if Pakatan wins GE14 and becomes the new government, he will review and re-negotiate all deals with China. He has put the sh*t on the market.

I suspect he is undermining the BN's foreign investment program which has Mainland Chinese content, more to spark fears in the Malay community against the Yellow Peril rather than being against Chinese investments per se.

Actually investments by China (including Hong Kong) in Malaysia for 2017 amounted to RM65bil, which was far far lower than investments from Singapore (RM116.3bil) and Japan (RM71.6bil).

But of course Japan has been Mahathir's favourite and I doubt he would never ever say anything other than arigato gozaimasu to his work ethics idols. He was so enamoured with things Japanese that he promoted and launched his Look East policy.

That policy was to change the Malay's mindset and work etiquette, but studies show he failed in his endeavour though it did succeed in making Malaysian LOOK EAST politically rather than just to the West.

The following extracts are from the conclusion of a Master's thesis by Wietske Overtoom at the Leiden University:

Banzai 

Mahathir's Look East policy came into existence, because of his believe in the problems he laid out in the Malay Dilemma and The Challenge. Mahathir was looking for a way to change the values of the Malays, which would allow them to be able to compete with the successful Chinese.

Mahathir stressed the need for a change of values and believed that Japanese values were the ones the Malays should aim for. When the “Look East” policy was initiated, it remained vague and there was no real document available. This makes it difficult to fully understand the implication of the “Look East” policy and also to assert successes or failures of the policy.

However, it was known that it was looking to emulate the successful countries, Japan and Korea. This meant a shift in international politics that did not aim at the traditional West, but at the East. However, more importantly, the policy intended to emulate the work ethics and values of those countries.

To realize this, the government subsidized studying in Korea and Japan and sought joint-venture with those countries. Mahathir was also inspired by the Sogoshoshas, which were state-led enterprises, that could help Mahathir with reaching his goal. The believe that Japan was the best example to follow was because of the economic success Japan had enjoyed after the second world war. [...]

However, taking Japan as an example for Malays to follow, was somewhat problematic. Japan shares few similarities with Malaysia and proved to be mainly involved with Malaysia for profitability. Thus the Japanese companies would not be focusing on a change of values or technology transfer, but more logically on securing their profits. This left negative feelings with some of the Malaysians.

Mahathir was very keen on making the Malays able to compete with the Chinese, but therefore made choices that were somewhat discriminatory against the Chinese.

He preferred Malays in his state-led projects and caused unequal competition against the Chinese who were not enjoying government sponsorship.

Furthermore, he chose to create projects in areas where the Chinese were most prominent and chose to increase his political aim towards the Islam. [...]

In conclusion, the Look East policy was not very effective in changing the Malays values into Japanese values simply by sending students to Japan or creating joint-venture with Japanese companies. 

BTW, did you know when he was PM, his strategic management guru was Kenichi Ohmae.

Kenichi Ohmae was one of the World's top expert in strategic management. My Uncles who were in the military were 'instructed' by the military commander at its staff college to buy Kenichi Ohmae's book on strategic management as part of their staff college training.

Meanwhile MM Online reported:

Umno sought to assure farmers in Ayer Hitam, touted as a bellwether constituency in the upcoming election, that Barisan Nasional (BN) was looking at China as a new emerging market for palm oil and rubber.

Following the European Union’s (EU) decision to ban the use of palm oil in biofuels from 2021, Ayer Hitam Umno division chief Datuk Samsol Bari Jamali said it was pertinent that Malaysia maintained a good cooperation with China, currently the second biggest importer of palm oil.

“This is due to the nature of the people in central Johor, especially in Ayer Hitam, which depends on palm oil, rubber plantation, and farming for income.

“Although most farmers are independent and will find means to ensure they will get the most value out of their lands, yet they are worried that their livelihood would be in jeopardy due to the ban. Hence why BN has been pushing for greater cooperation with China to market our product into their market,” Samsol told Malay Mail in an interview here.

The concern about Mahathir destabilising the market as a result of his seeming anti-China pronouncements has been such that Lim Kit Siang has emerged to quickly assuage concerned investors that Pakatan Harapan will not harm bilateral ties with China if it wins federal power in GE14.