One who cannot be patient for a moment will have days and months of trouble (Chinese proverb)

Fellow comrades,

An update on the impending Singaporean PM's visit to Malaysia quoted our Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar as saying that another issue that will be discussed won't be as contentious as the others but is just as important: the Iskandar Development Region. Not knowing that much about the IDR, I visited its website. The layout of the webpage was nice although the content was slightly amatuerish. On the right hand corner, the IDR was said to offer investors, among other things, "our resources" and that "we are pro business" (surprisingly blatant). The website seemed up-to-date and had a link to a recently updated (19 April 2007) FAQ section. From the website, I understand that the IDR's main purpose are to fully exploit the logistic triangle: Senai Airport (North), Port of Tanjung Pelepas (South West) and Johor Port (South East) as well as allowing foreign companies to take advantage of the Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore Growth Triangle (IMS-GT) around it. Having a free trade area of sorts may lure in foreign investors, pretty much like Hong Kong. Nevertheless, prudence is necessary. Already there are discontent among certain sectors of the community, namely the Malays and more particularly Tun Mahathir, when the government decided to make the IDR truly adopt the ideals of a "free trade area" and not have any affirmative action policies in place. The government gave ground and set up a "Social Action Fund" that will be managed by the Iskandar Regional Development Authority. Investors might be a little worried about this and, with the ease of capital flight nowadays, decide to invest elsewhere. Although, "elsewhere" might need 'patient capital' as well.

Godspeed,
Fadli