KUALA LUMPUR: The government needs to revisit several policies on promoting Malaysia as a preferred destination for high-quality investments in the electrical and electronics (E&E) sector, said Special Parliamentary Select Committee on the Budget chairman Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
He said E&E was an important sector as it was the backbone of manufacturing, the main source of foreign direct investment (FDI) and was one third of the country’s exports.
“I hope the government can give incentives and facilitate the right policies for the E&E sector as it plays an important role in FDI, job creation and exports.
“I have been in talks with some of the E&E players and they look forward to Malaysia continuing to have good policies to attract E&E companies into the country.
“We are facing stiff competition from neighbouring countries like Singapore and Vietnam.
“We have done well in the past, but this is no guarantee that we are going to do well in the future.
“The government needs to revisit some of these policies to make sure we can attract better quality investments from throughout the world.
“Certainly, this is an area that I want to see more of in terms of initiatives and incentives to make Malaysia more attractive,” he told the New Straits Times.
According to the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, from January to March this year, the targeted 3+2 catalytic and high potential growth sub-sectors — E&E, chemical and chemical products, machinery and equipment, medical devices, and aerospace, as identified under the 11th Malaysia Plan — contributed 66.14 per cent (RM16.8 billion) to the total approved investments in the manufacturing sector.
During the period, two notable investments from the United States were projects from Micron Technology and Jabil Circuit. Both companies planned to expand their manufacturing operations in Penang.
Mustapa said there were areas where Malaysia could benefit from the US-China trade war in the short term, but they were not going to be sustainable.
“Whatever gains and losses in the short term will not be sustainable. In the long term, this trade dispute will harm everyone.
“Short-term gain, including some trade diversion to Malaysia, may not be sustainable to the country in the long term. I think we should be looking to the medium and long term.”