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.