Dato’ Husni Salleh
ASEAN Business Leaders: Malaysia is migrating to become a high-income nation. Moreover, the government implemented ‘Transformasi Nasional 2050’ or “TN50”, as a key strategic plan to achieve this goal by 2050. Do you consider the “TN50” program as a key tool for Malaysia to become more competitive?
Dato’ Husni Salleh: In the world we have today, everyone is quite well aware of the rapid evolution of technology and the industry 4.0 that we all are currently experiencing. We need to be more competitive on a global scale. The information that we have available is in abundance nowadays but the challenge is how Malaysia can use this information to be more competitive in the market. Building competitiveness does not happen in a short-term activity or programme but we have to manage it over a long-term period. This is what Malaysia tries to do by implementing the TN50. The TN50 develops policies and programmes so that we can shape and transform the society to reach the vision of what we want to become in thirty to forty years down the road. I am very positive that Malaysia as a whole is on the right track to move the economy forward and to play an increasingly important role in the ASEAN market.
ASEAN Business Leaders: What is the role that Teraju plays as part of the initiative of the government to spearhead, drive and coordinate Bumiputra participation in the national economy, in line with the National Transformation Plan?
Dato’ Husni Salleh: Teraju has been mandated to look into the nation, government link agency, the private sector and to develop new policies, activities and programmes to increase and speed up the development of the Bumiputra to be more in-line with the national transformation itself to contribute positively to the country’s gross domestic product and strengthen Bumiputera participation in the economy.
In the past years, entrepreneurship has been growing within the Bumiputra community but it is still relatively new in the market. Therefore it is a challenge to them because there are more established entrepreneurs coming from the non-Bumiputra community out there who are competing in the market. Teraju, together with other Government agencies, are trying to include Bumiputera entrepreneurship and support them in order to compete in the open market. To date, we have some success stories of Bumiputra companies that have consolidated their position in the local market and some that are recognised in the international market as well as other companies that are making their first steps expanding into other markets across Malaysia’s borders. And definitively, this is the way to go.
ASEAN Business Leaders: What are the advantages of doing business in Malaysia?
Dato’ Husni Salleh: ASEAN’s economic market or the regional economy is dynamic. Malaysia’s market alone is relatively small consisting of 32 million people as compared to ASEAN which has a 620 million population. So this offers a huge market and opportunities to be capitalized on. So, we need to enhance and promote the capability and quality of our local products and services, and how to make these two aspects be more competitive to the open market. Therefore, the ASEAN market is the first region for Malaysian companies to explore. The ASEAN market is relatively new, however the established businesses of Malaysia have always being exporting to foreign countries, in Europe for example, but the Bumiputra community has not yet exported enough goods and services and they may be unfamiliar with these markets. Therefore, we are creating a few programmes to boost their businesses and assist them to expand their services overseas. Internally in Malaysia, we have been consciously developing our capacities and our skill-set. Thus, we have been embracing technology and recently Malaysia has opened up the world’s first Digital Free Trade zone as the gateway to ASEAN countries and also the China market. I consider that we are at the forefront to open up the economy and Malaysia has many advantages to offer.