We cannot continue to depend on foreign investors, says Mahathir
Malaysia must target industrial production for the world market, says Mahathir. (Reuters pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia cannot be too dependent on foreign direct investment if it wants to achieve developed nation status, according to former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said the country needed to be in control of technology and targeting industrial production for the global market such as being done by other Asian countries including China, Japan and South Korea.
“We (Malaysia) depend on foreign investors, (they) build factories which do not belong to us (Malaysia). All profits are repatriated (to their countries) and we (Malaysia) do not get the technology completely,” he said at an online forum organised by the National Professors Council (MPN).
He said South Korea is now the manufacturer of the world’s biggest ships after becoming aware that there was demand in the world market.
Prof Raduan Che Rose, head of the professors’ council, said his research on the transfer of technology by multinational companies in Malaysia showed that the country was being used more as a production plant.
“All the research, strategic matters remain with the respective countries. The mistake was perhaps in the early stages before, when we were desperate to create jobs at the manual level,” he said.
He said the country needed to be in control of technology and targeting industrial production for the global market such as being done by other Asian countries including China, Japan and South Korea.
“We (Malaysia) depend on foreign investors, (they) build factories which do not belong to us (Malaysia). All profits are repatriated (to their countries) and we (Malaysia) do not get the technology completely,” he said at an online forum organised by the National Professors Council (MPN).
He said South Korea is now the manufacturer of the world’s biggest ships after becoming aware that there was demand in the world market.
Prof Raduan Che Rose, head of the professors’ council, said his research on the transfer of technology by multinational companies in Malaysia showed that the country was being used more as a production plant.
“All the research, strategic matters remain with the respective countries. The mistake was perhaps in the early stages before, when we were desperate to create jobs at the manual level,” he said.
*********
kt notes:
Same old Mahathir's whine. We had all the opportunities but couldn't even get a basic car right, couldn't complete even a small naval ship (Sing built 6 frigates under French licence), Perwaja kantoi, stadium roofs in East Coast collapse, roads eff-ed up, water in Selangor forever eff-ed, etc etc etc.
Stop blaming foreign investors - of course they do/did it for profit so what's wrong with those investors taking their portions of earnings back, at least our citizens have jobs.
Malaya/Malaysia was once so far ahead of South Korea so don't talk cock about being in control of technology this-and-that. Those Koreans work their guts out, sacrifice themselves, apart from investing in research and a good educational system. Don't look at South Korea's exports of ships, fighter planes, cars, trucks, heavy vehicles, Panther tanks, etc but at its simple non-technological export of K-Pop, K-girls etc - innovation lah instead of hunting for poor Sajat.
What more can you expect from a Government of Race and Religion Supremacist Zombies ?
ReplyDeleteThey always made clear the Race and Religion Supremacy agenda overides everything else, so what is there to complain ?
Race & religion supremacy agenda DO work!
DeleteAs in the case of the Zionist Israel.
But in bolihland, that's a totally different kind of concoction!
Can u mfers, see the underlying fundamental determinant?
Jews are among the most hyper-competitive people on the planet.
DeleteNo Tongkats, especially in Israel.
Talk to anyone who has attended high end universities in USA , Australia, UK , especially in STEM courses.
Next to ethnic Chinese, the most hyper-competitive students are Jews.
Israels get 4 Billion $ per annum from USA - no tongkat?
DeleteTongkat is only short term & superficial.
DeleteLook at those camel toweled zombies. Plenty of tongkat & privileges. Yet, almost zilch significant developmental achievements.
Don't just bandy around the $4 Billion per annum number.
DeleteMalaysia is a very good example of how a country can burn away RM 40 Billion ( USD $ 10 Billion) with nothing to show except Rosmah's handbags.
Israel is a technological powehouse , something Israel haters can't bring themselves to acknowledge.
One main reason many Arab governments, as opposed to troublemakers groups, want to engage in normal relations with Israel is they want to be able to make deals with Israel's advanced technologies.
Allah gave the Saudis, Iranians etc Oil and Gas. For decades USA had no choice but to buy Arab oil by the billions every month. But Allah gave Israel not one drop. Only sand and stone.
DeleteSo USA bantu Israel with 4B, what is that? A grain of sand in the desert.
4B is only cash, but US provide political, other financial, intelligence, networking support and monumental loads of military aid and training, all worth more than the oil of Saudi
Deletetaiwanese pick semiconductor n said no to national car in the seventies, now the whole world car manaufacturer is begging taiwan for chips supply, while malaysia hv the potential to become the world most low fee food delivey services due to abundance of mat rempit, equally success story.
ReplyDeleteWhat so precarious about the Formosa industries?
DeleteOne word - 奴性!
No national cars in the seventies bcoz all the join ventures with the Jap/US failed to compete profitably, both internally & externally.
Semiconductor assembly falls into that servitude mentality as no designs input required. Just follow the PROVIDED designs & parameters & work like clockworks to make the end products.
W/O the external designs, these Taiwanese semiconductor foundries r just like the porcelain kilns of the old! Soon to be the dust of the history when new tech arises!
Hence, that saying of 工匠 must have that intrinsic 奴性 tied to the product.
Just like w/o the Chinese market, all these Formosa pineapple would have to be consumed/rotten within that island.
tsmc getting bigger n bigger while chips con in ccpland tutup kedai one by one. huawei design something no one in ccpland know how to make, quite similar to mahathir car that makeup msia essential all import, or like ccp/pn appearance are chinese/malay but heart communist.
DeleteTSMC "getting bigger n bigger" bcoz of its chip foundry activity based on a terminal technology.
DeleteTerminal technology bcoz the natural limit of miniaturization has been reached. & 奴性 Inclination has a consistent resistance to chances in new technologies!
Haven't I mentioned about the repeated demised history of the Chinese porcelain 官窑?
Ooop… hp6 中国通 only can concentrate on how to bash CCP China/Chinese!
Besides, the major real owners of tsmc r us funds. These financial vultures can move their monies out the first instant the blood of chip foundry is spilled. Even now, nothing much is tsmc benefiting Formosa in development & financial well-being. But BS is definitely high on the katak list.
So count on tsmc to bull yr fart lah! Its end time is near.
Wakakakakaka…
Like demoNcratic/pn, appearances are western/melayu with spurious altruism. But heart deep down is elite selfishness when the crunch is near.
No way in comparison with a 以民为主 communism. Eat yr heart out, mfers!
Maybe we should follow the example of another ex-PM who wanted instead to invest billions of EPF money into the US, buying Boeing planes and investing in US infrastructure, strengthen the US economy, MAGA, when our own infrastructure is lacking. Fortunately tak jadi because of GE14 eight months later. Imagine MAS ada USD10 billion of Boeing planes now with Covid. Unfortunately 4 billion KWAP money dia telah songlap.
ReplyDeleteQUOTE
Najib’s RM43bil Boeing purchase that wasn’t
P Gunasegaram
26 Sep 2017
A QUESTION OF BUSINESS | Prime Minister Najib Razak had to dig deep to offer US President Donald Trump something tangible but even the much-touted US$10 billion, or RM43 billion, Boeing jet purchases turn out to be less than what they seem.
In his meeting with Trump earlier this month, Najib offered three things to help the US economy, including what Trump said was US$10-20 billion to buy Boeing jets and General Electric engines. Najib thanked Trump for the meeting and said that he came with a value proposition to “strengthen” the US economy.
“I come with three specific proposals,” he said. They were:
1. Increase the number of Boeing planes committed from 25 B-737s and eight 787 Dreamliners with the “strong probability not possibility that 25 more 737 Max10” will be bought in the near future. Within five years, these would be worth “beyond RM10 billion”. Also, Najib said he will try and persuade AirAsia to buy GE engines.
2. The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has so far invested over US$7 billion in equity in the US and intends to invest a further US$3 billion to US$4 billion “to support your infrastructure re-development in the US”.
3. Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional has investments of US$400 million in Silicon Valley in high-tech investments. It intends to increase investment here.
Enough has been said about his proposals to “strengthen” the US economy and the US$10 billion plus purchases of Boeing jets taken together with EPF’s and Khazanah’s investments will be a mere drop in the ocean of an economy in 2016 of nearly US$19 trillion (over RM80 trillion). Even US$20 billion is just 0.0001 percent of US$19 trillion, showing how little Najib’s offers will help the US economy!
UNQUOTE