HomeNewsBeritaBusinessLifestyleOpinionWorldSportsPropertyEducationCarzillaGalleryVideosAccelerator

Will China’s belt and road torch burn Malaysia?

-

It is important for Putrajaya to manage the Belt and Road Initiative properly so that Malaysia gets the benefits without getting burnt, says academic.

0
Shares
Total Views: 1
Kuik-Cheng-Chwee_malaysia_china_600
Kuik Cheng Chwee

KUALA LUMPUR:
Malaysia’s embrace of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and capital flow from China into Malaysia, should be viewed in longer and broader perspectives.

Kuik Cheng Chwee, an associate professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, adds that the important thing is for Malaysia to manage it well and not be burnt by it.

He notes, in an opinion piece carried in Sin Chew Daily, that Malaysians, particularly the opposition, are associating China’s investment with Prime Minister Najib Razak and the need to mitigate the debts incurred by 1Malaysia Development Bhd.

Putting things in perspective, Kuik says Malaysia’s deep engagement with China started in the early 1990s under Dr Mahathir Mohamad and that Malaysia’s efforts to attract more Chinese investment began right after the global financial crisis in 2008 -2009 under Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

As China emerges as a net capital exporter, Kuik says, many countries in Southeast Asia and elsewhere are competing for a bigger slice of China’s outflow investment for their own development benefits.

“This is crucial for Malaysia, particularly at a time when the country is facing the dual challenges of shrinking foreign direct investment and falling oil prices.

“Getting and leveraging on the needed capital and technologies to boost Malaysia’s connectivity-based development is key to transforming the country’s geography and endowments into sustainable growth and strategic activism in the 21st century.”

The issue, therefore, is not whether to embrace China’s BRI, but how to do so while simultaneously engaging others to ensure a balanced, integrated and diversified strategy.

He notes that before it was known as BRI, China’s policy was known as “One-Belt, One-Road” and its acronym OBOR.

Saying the word “obor” in Malay means torch, Kuik adds: “A torch can be both useful and harmful. It brings the light, warmth and fire needed for certain tasks, but can also burn its handler if mismanaged.

“At issue is not whether to ignore OBOR, but how to manage and utilise its multiple torches in ways that light up national pursuits without burning away one’s own core handles.”

Kuik acknowledges that some of the concerns raised by the opposition and civil society groups are real.

He notes that some international observers and many in Malaysia have attributed Putrajaya’s embrace of BRI to Najib’s “desperate survival strategy after the 1MDB scandal”

“That view was reinforced in late 2015 with news that two Chinese state-linked corporations were purchasing 1MDB’s power assets and property, which substantially reduced the sovereign fund’s debts.

“The widespread perception that the Malaysian leader is now beholden to China leads many to interpret almost everything about Najib’s China policy as a cynical move. When the leader’s visit to China in November 2016 concluded deals worth US$33 billion, Najib was accused of “selling off” Malaysia to China.”

Kuik adds: “Perhaps the grass-roots sentiment over China’s growing footprint is best captured by Nurul Izzah Anwar, the vice president of the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat, who described China’s investments in Malaysia as ‘too much, too fast, too soon’.

That is why, he says, policymakers should ensure a balanced, integrated and diversified strategy in handling the BRI.

Stay current - Follow FMT on WhatsApp, Google news and Telegram

Subscribe to our newsletter and get news delivered to your mailbox.