Malaysia's victorious opposition in weekend polls assured foreign investors yesterday that pro-business policies would remain intact in Penang, one of Asia's biggest manufacturing hubs.
Opposition parties made major solid gains in Saturday's general elections, taking control of five out of 13 states, including Penang. The opposition also denied Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's National Front coalition a two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time in four decades.
"There will be continuity. We assure foreign and local investors that Penang will remain business friendly. We will not undertake any policies that will frighten investors away," Lim Guan Eng (林冠英), Penang's chief minister-elect, said in a telephone interview.
Penang's new government will be led by Lim's Democratic Action Party, which won 19 of the 40 seats in the state assembly. It will form a coalition with the opposition People's Justice Party, known by its Malay acronym PKR, which won nine seats. Abdullah's National Front coalition got only 11 seats, losing control of the legislature for the first time since 1969.
The opposition victory had raised fears of an economic slowdown because of its criticism of large infrastructure projects and promises to cut fuel prices. The fears were felt especially strongly in Penang, which is home to major US electronics firms such as Dell, Intel, Motorola and Seagate.
The manufacturing sector contributes to almost half of Penang's economic growth, and provides more than 200,000 jobs in the island of 1.5 million people, Lim said.
He said Penang's industrial edge has been dulled by stiff competition from China and cheaper emerging markets such as Vietnam and Thailand.
"We feel Penang has lost its luster. We will pursue pro-business policies to make Penang a competitive and leading manufacturing hub in Asia," Lim said.
Economists said foreign investors may stay on the sidelines in the short-term to see how the opposition strength would influence economic policies.
"There are a lot of uncertainties, a lot of risks, but it may turn out positive. It can be a catalyst for change in the right direction," said Chua Hak Bin (蔡學敏), a Singapore-based economist with Citigroup.
"Fund managers will be concerned with the racial divide," Chua said.
"With the Chinese and Indians voting for the opposition, you raise the question if Malaysia's fundamentals are intact and whether there will be racial violence even though the Malays also voted for the opposition," he said.
Malaysia's minorities are concerned over rising "Islamization" and angry over the government's refusal to abandon positive discrimination policies that give Malays advantages in education, housing and business.
Chua said the fall of Penang, Malaysia's "Silicon Valley" which is home to many high-tech firms and the only state dominated by ethnic Chinese, could affect equity prices.
"It could also have an impact on billion-dollar projects in Penang, including the second bridge crossing," he said.
Wan Suhaimi Saidie, economist with Kenanga Investment Bank, said there could be a drop in share prices when the bourse opens today.
"Some investors may shift their position when trading opens on Monday while others may take to the sidelines. But I think it will just be temporary," he said.
Wan Suhaimi said that with a strong new opposition, the government could hopefully fine-tune its investment policies to woo overseas funds.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort