KUALA LUMPUR: Despite Indonesia and Singapore's technological advancement, Malaysia also has unique offerings that could complement what both countries have to offer.
This was the opinion of former Indonesian trade minister and Consilience director Thomas Trikasih Lembong.
"Malaysia's unique offerings make them occupy an important middle ground between Singapore and Indonesia. Aside from being more cost competitive than Singapore, Malaysia is also at a more advanced level of economic development.
"They have been fortunate enough to skip one of the worst speculative excesses of the technology bubble. So that puts Malaysia in a good position to be a part of the digital powerhouse," he said at the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Malaysia Digital Week 2022 (MDW2022),
In comparison to Singapore, Malaysia has less speculative capital and a more concrete foreign direct investment (FDI), he said.
When it comes to what Malaysia can do to be the next digital powerhouse, Lembong suggests Malaysia everage on existing strengths that they have to offer.
"Malaysia has a highly educated population, superiority in the English language, a higher degree of economic sophistication and a well developed healthcare sector and semiconductor industry. Instead of chasing after Indonesia and Singapore, partner with them to synergise and bring our respective strengths to the table," he said.
Since the integration and volume of contact between Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore has slowed down due to the pandemic, we need to push hard on boosting integration between the three markets and business sectors, he said.
Lembong added that increased engagement also plays a part in being a digital powerhouse like Singapore and Indonesia.
"Malaysia should build bridges and capitalise international engagement with their neighbours and globally. An engagement with the United Kingdom for instance, makes great sense given that both are commonwealth countries with a shared history and heritage," he added.