Row won't deter S'pore investment to Malaysia
Row won't deter S'pore investment to Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia will keep luring Singaporean
investors and the criticism made by senior minister Lee Kuan Yew
on Johor state will not deter further investment, a business
analyst said Saturday.
"Singaporeans realize there is huge potential in Malaysia.
Their investment is across the board from property development,
manufacturing to services," Malaysian Investors' Association
President PHS Lim told AFP.
He said in 1996 Singapore was the biggest investing country
here with 4.77 billion ringgit (US$1.91 billion), followed
closely by Japan with 4.61 billion ringgit and the United States
with 2.89 billion ringgit.
Last year Singapore contributed 27.9 percent of total foreign
investments received by Malaysia out of a total of 17.6 billion
ringgit in 1996.
"The commercial ties will remain strong... the furor will fade
away, Lim said.
The Singapore patriarch, in a defamation suit against
Singapore Workers' Party member Tang Liang Hong, had said in an
affidavit he was baffled why Tang had fled to Johore when he
feared for his safety.
"Of all places, he (Tang) went to Johore. That place is
notorious for shootings, muggings, and car-jackings. It did not
make any sense for a person who claims to be fearful for his life
to go to a place like Johor," Lee said.
Lee issued an unprecedented public apology Thursday, but
Malaysia's government leaders gave a lukewarm response to it.
Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the apology would be
referred to the cabinet for further discussion on Wednesday.
Lim also said among the ASEAN countries Malaysia had been an
important destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) and
with a better global economic outlook in 1997, Malaysia would
attract more FDI.
ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.
Malaysia registered an encouraging trend of increasing FDI
inflows over the past six years, with the value increasing to 5.8
billion dollars in 1995 from 2.3 billion in 1990, Lim said in a
statement.