Market Our Strengths, Stupid

For the past year or two, the political scene in Malaysia has been filled with struggles, tension, and scandals. Another disgrace was the messages promoting racial supremacy and privileges of 1 ethnic group over others -- brewed by unethical politicians eager to grab a seat in Parliament by appealing to the weak emotions of their own ethnic community. This is definitely upsetting for people living in a multi-racial society.

KISS is short for Keep It Simple, Stupid.

I am tempted to start another one: MOSS for Market Our Strengths, Stupid.

If anyone has any suggestions, kindly forward them through cyber space.

The problem with us is we don't know marketing. I'm not an expert in this field, but I have observed enough to know it's Marketing, Marketing, Marketing.

Here, we are fighting with each other, lamenting about how poor and backward we are, fighting over who gets the bigger share of the roti canai, how poor thing we are yack yack yack yack yack!

We are largely, in general, a self-inferior society. We have no self-esteem.

Instead of looking at all the positive aspects of us, we are fighting amongst ourselves, because of our stupidity and "poor me, I deserve better" mentality. We don't look at the bigger picture!

We don't know how to look at our strengths and market it! So we get more food on the table, and are happy to share the food with our family and friends. So that Malaysia becomes one big OPEN HOUSE!

Instead of explaining more and tiring myself out, just read this newspaper report from the Japanese investing their Yen in Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 – Despite the current global economic gloom that has severely hit the United States and Europe, Japan sees Malaysia as one of the most attractive destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI) to Japanese investors in the region.

Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia Masahiko Horie says trade and investment between Malaysia and Japan have been on an excellent note.

“We are one of the top trading partners with Malaysia and has always been the top three trading partners,” he told Bernama in an interview.

Horie said: “Japan was No. 1 in Malaysia’s list of importing nations and No. 3 in terms of exporting. We are also one of the top three investors. In 2006 and 2007, Japan emerged as the top investor in Malaysia.”

“Since my posting to Malaysia 16 months ago, I’ve always brought good news, Japan has become the No. 1 investor in the country.”

He said the land of the rising sun would continue to be the top investor in Malaysia. Currently, 1,400 Japanese companies are operating in Malaysia.

“These are all Japanese foreign direct investments over the last 30 to 40 years. This cumulative Japanese investments in Malaysia are enormous. These investments are inter-twined with our close bilateral ties,” he said, adding that Japan and Malaysia cannot be separated as the current investments will increase.

He, however, acknowledged that in the 1990s, the number of Japanese companies took a beating when some 100 to 200 companies withdrew from Malaysia, reducing to 1,100 or 1,200 the total of companies operating.

Horie admitted that the emergence of China and Vietnam have “sort of diverted Japanese investors at that time as they found these countries have more advantages.” Nonetheless, he said, after 2000, the situation has changed.

“China has made its own progress and the wage level has increased over the last 10 to 15 years while vietnam has attracted a lot of investments,” he said.

“However, China and Vietnam are still lacking in certain areas, especially in the infrastructure sector. There is a saturation point, both in China and vietnam,” he said.

Horie said Japanese investors have re-evaluated investment prospects in the region and have come to a conclusion that “Malaysia is still a good country to invest compared to other countries in the region.”

Firstly, he said, Malaysia has well developed infrastructures and relatively high-skilled labour.

Also, Malaysia is one of the most stable country politically, economically and socially.

“It is amazing to see the Malays, Chinese, Indians and many other ethnic groups living together in peace and harmony,” he said.

“Another good point for Malaysia is that everybody speaks good English. They are multi-lingual. Not only Bahasa Malaysia but also English and many people speak and understand Chinese.

“This multi-cultural and multi-religious country has good synergy effect and I think this is a very strong point for Malaysia,” he said, adding that Japan is too homogeneous and “this is the weak point of Japan.”

“For the Japanese economy to live and survive in this globalised world, I think Japan and the Japanese have a lot to learn from Malaysia and Malaysians.

“Hence, I am telling my people to come and visit Malaysia and to see and be friends of the Malaysian people,” he said.

On the impact of the economic downturn, Horie said the slowdown has strong impact particularly on the electronics and electrical sector.

He said Japan and Malaysia produced electrical appliances and the bulk of the items were exported to the United States, Europe and Asian markets.

“Christmas sales last year dropped sharply because of recession in the United States and Europe,” he said.

Japanese companies producing electronics and electrical items for export to the United States, Europe and Asian markets have reduced and realigned their production lines by about 20 to 30 per cent, he added. – Bernama