Monday 11 June 2018

Dr Mahathir's best decision so far

A Japanese friend of mine sent me a WhatsApp message last night telling me that he just met a close aide of Dr Mahathir, who is also my friend in Tokyo.

From the tone of his message, I think he was very happy.

I sort of introduced them at the height of Dr Mahathir-Najib fight in 2015.

I was quite happy too that they met again.

My Japanese friend represents a major company interested to invest in Malaysia.

I hope everything went well with their meeting and we will have that potential investor coming here soon.

Dr Mahathir is currently in Japan, the first country he's visiting since becoming PM again.

I believe many good things will come out of it.

Regular readers of this blog should know that I'm quite pro-Japan.

I prefer that country more than others.

So, that's why for me the best decision of Dr Mahathir since he became PM again is,

To reignite Look East Policy


It's refreshing for me that we are shifting a bit from the current trend of giving too much emphasis on China as source of investments and such.

I was never really comfortable with us being too dependent on China.

After all, I was unhappy with all those Chinese investments along the coast of Tebrau Straits long before Dr Mahathir pose for this picture, which I think helped PH a lot to defeat BN in my home state Johor


You all may check the archive of this blog if you don't believe me.

This is one of my most read post about it back on Sept 3, 2014,

Meanwhile in Johor...the song remains the same

See, that's even before the Dr Mahathir-Najib fight.

We never have that sorts of trouble with the Japanese investors.

And they have been coming here opening up factories and such to help boost our economy since the 1980s when the jobs they created were meant for us Malaysians instead of Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Nepalese etc.

If I'm  not mistaken, Japan is still our number one source of FDI today.

I sure hope we are going to get more of such investments with this new round of Look East policy.

Maybe more in high tech stuff instead of the labour intensive ones this time.

I'm also much more comfortable with Malaysia being close to Japan because that country had been doing much in helping us in things such as research and development.

They used to give us quite a lot of development grants and even sent their experts to help out in improving our technical know how.

I also believe that we can still learn a lot more from them, especially in improving our work ethics and culture.

Well, writing this post makes me miss Japan again.

The last time I was there was in autumn 2015.

Just a few days tour of the beautiful Kansai region.

I visited this temple in Kyoto the last time I was In Japan
I've been writing about visiting Japan again since then but never did so.

There's always something coming up that I had to cancel my travelling plan.

It will soon be autumn again over there.

Maybe this time.

Maybe I'll go disturb my friend in Tokyo as I always promised him.

See lah how.

27 comments:

  1. Annie,

    Not a question of being pro or anti Japan, but they can be very valuable trade partners and assist in tech transfer.

    I'm just worried about the pace of Tun's work schedule. I think he works harder than most people half his age.

    Azmin should also chip in to attract FDI once his ministry is set up. Selangor did well revenue wise.

    Here's hoping that in a few years we will be pulling in a lot more FDI once our spoiled reputation is cleaned up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Baru tadi pm Jepun menganugerahkan Jersey No. 7 pasukan bolasepak kebangsaan negara matahari terbit khas kpd pm Malaysia ke 7, menjelang Piala Dunia tak lama lagi.

      WOWWWWWWWWWW....amat membanggakan & terujanya bila melihat sebuah negara kuasa ekonomi dunia begitu hormat kpd The One and Only Grand Old Statesman dan berikrar akan membantu negara kita membangun semula selari dgn kemajuan teknologi & iklim perdagangan sedunia.

      Tun....

      You give us a new breather & inspiration for us to keep pace and stay a top. Thank you and may Allah SWT always bestow HIS Blessing upon your goodself & family herein in this world and thereafter in the everlasting akhirat.

      Amin.

      Delete
  2. Japan is no longer a giant like it used to be.When I was doing my post-graduate study in the US in the '80s Japan was highly admired by my American classmates.
    However,Japan still control some of the world economic sectors such as automobile sector.Howeever, the Chinese are catching up.
    Prof Kangkung

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pros Kangkang

      You may have done post-graduate study in Advanced Dedak Eating at the University of Cicak Go.

      That would explain a lot.



      Prof Sawi



      Delete
    2. Hehehe ... Sawi sir, now you sound jealous of the quintessential Vegetable Man!

      Delete
    3. Moderator wanita Jepun di Persidangan Nikkei (termasuk satu dunia) tadi tercengang-cengang & heran hingga terpanggil untuk bertanya apa rahsia Tun Mahathir dalam usia lanjut masih brketrampilan segak, cerdas, cergas & sihat.

      Pada saya secara peribadi, itulah Kurniaaan Illahi yg tak boleh digugat, dicabut oleh sesiapapun, termasuk DYMM Raja2 & YDPA.

      Pros Kangkung yg dah terkangkang, apa ada....??

      Delete
    4. PKHKC Kangkung is full of pig manure

      Delete
    5. Japan has the highest debt in the w
      orld
      https://iluminasi.com/bm/7-negara-dengan-jumlah-hutang-tertinggi-dunia.html

      Delete
  3. the east is red or the chinese century wink

    ReplyDelete
  4. hi annie! radzi razak ada tulis article menarik dlm MI hari ini about funding, any comment?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Annie,
    In the of Internet, Japan has been with scandals. No more great work ethics. We never heard of industry fraud from Japan in 80s and 90s. Now we had Shikansen dan Mitsubishi fraud.

    Japan are no longer what they used to be. They are not producing new technologies as before. Even robotics technologies are no longer their forte. China has invested lots of money in AI. We do not hear AI produced by Japan

    Are we going there for the sake of old time?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. u must be from umno...jeles ke bro

      Delete
  6. Annie its not China, Japan, India, Us or N. Korea...its getting the best deal from companies with the best expertise. The former gomen did not do this and that is why we are screwed.

    ReplyDelete
  7. To Sensei Mahathir:

    https://youtu.be/Z5tEd16aBCY

    Domo arigato hai Sensei!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You spoke too soon Annie... The old man now wants to build a new Malaysian car.

    Tak cukup ke berhutang RM1 trillion ?
    Gila ke apa dia ni ?...

    There goes our contribution in Tabung Harapan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anon 13:26.

      What makes you think that Dr.M or LGE is going to use Tabung Harapan to finance the new Malaysian car?

      By the way... I hope you're not thinking that Dr.M is planning to built fossil-fuel driven cars.

      The west had began phasing out production of diesel engine.

      Who knows, maybe for the sake of the environment, Dr.M was thinking of a combined hydrogen & electric driven cars?

      Delete
  9. Annie,

    The new car concept should be exciting and able to provide our engineers opportunities on production and design.

    I believe, electric car should be the way to go. Now that is the inclination and there is a market for that.

    I think the car name should be Perusahaan otomobil ke tiga. Protiga.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How about we name it Protun ? Hehe...

      Delete
    2. Haha Annie.kelakar.kita tunggu sapa kaki angguk dalam kabinet yg berani bantah dia.
      Prof Kangkung

      Delete
    3. 'YAMAHATHIR' is ideally the best, I guess so.

      Delete
  10. Annie,

    Now vision 2020 postponed to 2025.

    I think that should be reasonable. 2050 so long away.

    If 2050 did not achieved, then postpone 2080. I think everyone become too old already.

    2025 should be our target.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Annie How to check ur page view to confirm ur readers... I suggest U Google Ku Su Fian Write at blogspot to know more GE 14.. That's one hell of the read hiw Najib, UMNO n BN went kaputtt.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Low tech, high tech lets not forget the agent at the center of technological apps is mankind!
    So much potential goodness gone down the drain by virtue of the sick personality...

    https://youtu.be/0RWY3oH0T6M

    ReplyDelete
  13. Tun Mahathir becoming the Prime Minister the second time around brings a sense of deja vu for those who are old enough to experience living under his permeirship (1981-2003).
    His top down approach is very much different from Najib management style.What I can see this time whatever he does is not enthusiastically accepted by Malaysians.It like like Messi playing for England and scoring goals against Argentina.England supporters are thinking that Messi is an Argentinian whereas the Argentinians think that Messi betrays them.
    Prof Kangkung

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prof Kangkang,

      I suppose Najib 1MDB is accepted enthusiastically by Malaysian. Is it?

      I think Tun M scored a lot of goal. Penang Bridge, KLIA, PLUS Highway, Proton, Putrajaya.]

      Najib scored invisible goal, people cannot see one.

      I think now most of the people in Malaysia felt that we have a real leader doing something for the people right now.

      Delete
  14. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/06/11/government-set-to-shake-up-top-police-ranks-igp-first-to-go/

    I advise the current PH administration don’t get overboard with removing the big guns. I know they have lingering doubt over their loyalty but for the sake of functionality and stability, they should stick with the old guards for a little while. At least for a year or two.

    If they look like overly eager in removing them, it would send shock ripples into the ranks and files. This will soon backfire on them. Badly.

    In these early stages of transition. you need all the support that you need from senior gomen officials. These guys still command respect from their people. It is unwise to abruptly remove them and then look for the new one who needs to build rapport and power base throughout their subordinate.

    For your info, Tun M owed so much to these big guns for the smooth handover of power. Without them, there’s no way the smooth transfer of power could possibly happened.

    On the night when the King hunkered down at National Palace taking a little longer time deliberating whether to swear in Mahathir or not, IGP, PAT together with KSN scrambled to the palace asking to have an audience before the King. Looking to advice His Majesty to speed up the swear-in ceremony.

    They convinced the King that the swear-in can no longer be dragged on since there’s a state of confusion throughout the country. The swear-in had to be conducted at the soonest time possible to prevent rioting happening and the break down of social order and security. As Malaysia at that time was in the state of anarchy. Anything bad could happened at the slightest trigger.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. last minute plan to get PH 'katak' to lompat (mcm sabah) but thankfully it did not happened thereby Dr M is appointed PM advice total bersih & get rid of all BN buggers OK

      Delete