Neglect Of Colonial Heritage Will Be Costly Says Business Group

---

 
Malaysia will be overtaken by other countries if the nation continues to erode its colonial legacy, says the international business chamber.PETALING JAYA: An international business grouping has sounded a warning that Malaysia is losing its shine in terms of government administration and business conduct which used to be the best reflections of its colonial legacy.
The Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the legacies of the British colonial past had given Malaysia an added advantage over Indonesia and other countries in the region.
MICCI executive director Shaun Cheah said Malaysia had ranked highly (in global indices) because of its colonial legacy of the English language, British commercial laws and an education founded on the Cambridge examination syllabus.
He was responding to a FMT report in which a former executive director of the national economic action council, Noor Azlan Ghazali, said Malaysia had a better standing over Indonesia in the eyes of the global community.
-ADVERTISEMENT-Ads by 
Noor Azlan had dismissed the notion that Malaysia had fallen behind, and the World Competitiveness Index and Complexity Index which showed that Malaysia was more than a few steps ahead of Indonesia.
However, Cheah said other countries would eventually overtake Malaysia if its colonial legacy was eroded through creeping conservatism, neglect of English and “crutch coddling” of businesses.
He told FMT that corruption as well as double standards in law enforcement would lead to Malaysia’s decline in global rankings.
Economist Carmelo Ferlito of the Center for Market Education said while Malaysia’s global rankings were looking great at present, the experience of doing business on the ground might tell a different story.
He said the indices cited showed that Malaysia had built a strong pro-business environment over the past decades, overcoming a small market with friendly regulations, light bureaucracy, openness to foreigners, good infrastructure, good command of English and a high level of education.
However, he lamented that Malaysia has been on a backward trend in the past two years.
“Setting up a business (and in particular a bank account) for a foreign business is more difficult, hiring both skilled and unskilled foreign workers is more complicated, and the government interferes much more in the economy,” he told FMT Business.
On the other hand, Indonesia had been making leaps forward with the introduction of the omnibus law in 2020 which cut a lot of red tape and made it easier and more attractive for foreign-owned companies to invest there.
The law has simplified Indonesia’s complex regulatory environment, eased foreign investment restrictions, relaxed labour laws and streamlined corporate tax regulations.
“It takes three to five months for foreign shareholders to open bank accounts in Malaysia. In Indonesia, just a few weeks,” he said. - FMT

---