“As long as the government continues its friendly policy that welcomes foreign investors, I believe the future (of the country) is bright.”
TAN SRI LEE KIM YEW, Country Heights Holdings Bhd founder and chairman
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is still an attractive destination for foreign investors due to the low cost of real estate and labour as well as its talent diversity.
Country Heights Holdings Bhd founder and chairman Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew said Malaysia’s properties are among the cheapest in the region but the government needs to introduce business-friendly rules.
“What is more important than cheap labour is talent. Malaysia needs to attract talent. Talent can be moulded through education. This can also be done through faster methods such as attracting talent from abroad. That is why I support Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s proposal to give citizenship to foreign information technology experts.
“As long as the government continues its friendly policy that welcomes foreign investors, I believe the future (of the country) is bright,” he said at the Asean Leadership Disruption Summit 2018, here, yesterday.
Among the speakers were former Gatorade global president Sarah Rob O’Hagan, brand adviser for Fortune 500 companies Scott Deming, author of The Wall Street Journal Ram Charan, Netflix joint founder Marc Randolph and former BuzzFeed president and chief operating officer Jon Steinberg.
Charan said technology disruption has a positive impact.
He said many companies in Malaysia are small and medium enterprises but with platforms and technology, they are able to market their products or services abroad.