Anwar faces a significant challenge because Malaysia has not only lost its Asian Tiger status but has also fallen far behind its neighbours such as Indonesia and Vietnam. Despite moving from an agrarian economy in the 1970s to a manufacturing economy today, we are still largely a low-techno­logy manufacturing economy and also a resource-dependent economy — primarily oil, gas and palm oil. Our economy is still dependent on low-level manufacturing, palm oil, oil and gas, the same as it was 30 years ago. The carrot and stick approachWe need to reward businesses that adopt technology and penalise those that do not. We will not recapture the mantle of an Asian Tiger but will instead be nothing more than an Asian kitten.

Source: The Edge Markets January 02, 2023 07:15 UTC