Belt and Road projects in Malaysia lag behind other countries
KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia Maritime Silk Route Research Society president Prof Datuk Dr Wilson Yong Tung Yung has welcomed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s stand in recognizing the importance of China as an important neighbour with whom Malaysia has to strengthen relations in economic and investment aspects.
In congratulating Anwar’s appointment as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Yong hoped that the top leaders of Malaysia and China will meet soon in effort to realize more Belt and Road development projects here.
Yong, who is currently meeting industry players and representatives from Belt and Road organizations on his working visit in Hangzhou, Nanning city in Guangxi and Chengdu city in Sichuan province, said China has always looked forward to expanding the cooperation with Malaysia under the Belt and Road initiative but the progress was hindered by the pandemic and political turmoil in Malaysia.
Hence, he was heartened to see the formation of a unity government under the advice of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
He hoped that Malaysia will enjoy political stability and stable economic growth following the establishment of a new federal government.
“The Covid-19 pandemic for the past three years and political tussle in Malaysia have dealt a huge blow to our economy.
“On top of that, inflation and weak ringgit have affected both businesses and livelihood of the people. The most viable way to promote long-term economic growth right now is to broaden our cooperation with China, particularly in the Belt and Road projects.”
Yong pointed out that economic transformation is important to a middle-income nation like Malaysia.
He said better infrastructure such as railroad and ports will help stimulate the manufacturing and downstream industries, whilst also boost external trade activities.
He said China’s competency and mature construction technology will accelerate logistics and road development in Malaysia, thereby propelling economic growth.
“For instance, the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) linking the east and west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
“MIDF Research has estimated that the ECRL project will contribute 2.7 per cent to Malaysia’s economic growth during the construction stage.
“As the project requires machinery and transport equipment, the study shows imported commodities and consumption of fixed capital to increase by 3.3 and 2.1 per cent respectively.”
Yong said bilateral trade, education, investment, labour skills and knowledge transfer will certainly be enhanced if the Anwar-led unity government could facilitate cooperation in Belt and Road projects.
“China has been Malaysia’s top trading partner for 13 consecutive years, yet the Belt and Road projects in Malaysia lag behind other countries despite our strategic location and rich natural resources.”
At present, he said the ECRL, deep sea port project in Malacca strait and Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park are the only main Belt and Road projects that are realized.
Another Belt and Road project, the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, has just undertaken its trial run witnessed by Chinese President Xi Jinping recently.
“The high-speed railway in Indonesia will be operational in June next year, yet the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high-speed rail (HSR) has yet to materialize.”
Yong said it was important to put in motion the proposed Belt and Road projects and expedite the implementation of existing projects.
He believed that the meeting between Malaysian and China leaders will help facilitate mutually beneficial cooperation, particularly projects that could stimulate soft and hard infrastructure in Malaysia.
For example, he said it is worth considering reviving the multi-billion ringgit TransSabah Gas Pipeline project that was scrapped by the former government led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
In addition, he said the MalaysiaChina Kuantan Industrial Park, the sister park of China-Malaysia Qinzhou Industrial Park under the “Two Countries Twin Parks” collaboration, has become the epitome of the Belt and Road initiative.
“Both countries could emulate this collaborative model to create various industrial clusters and industrial parks with economic value to build supply chain and collaborations across sectors.
“Under the Belt and Road initiative, Malaysia and China can broaden cooperation in renewable energy, smart cars, smart city, digital economy, green economy, biopharmaceutical and advanced manufacturing to enable technology transfer to our country.”