It must be ‘we’, not ‘me’

“THEY missed the point. Nasi sudah menjadi bubur (it is too late),” was the reply from Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz when asked about the Malaysian Invest-ment Development Authority’s (Mida) statement reacting to the closure of the Goodyear factory in Malaysia.

It seems that Malaysia’s longest-serving Trade and Industry minister has many questions on her mind about the Good-year closure. And Rafidah doesn’t mince her words about it in a recent Facebook post.

Talk about Malaysia losing its competitive edge has been going on for some years now. Asean neighbours like Vietnam and Indonesia are seen as more attractive for investment, especially with more competitive labour costs.

A check with the Global Com-petitive Centre Index shows that Malaysia was placed 22nd in 2019, dropped five places in 2020, rose by two in 2021, and dropped to 32nd in 2022. It was only last year that Malaysia recovered enough to rise to 27th position. The government has pledged to have Malaysia on track to achieve a top 12 ranking in the index within 10 years, as outlined in the Madani economy plan.

When asked about the ranking fluctuation, a government officer replied with a question: “How many governments have changed in Malaysia in the last five years?”

Goodyear has said the decision to shutter the plant in Shah Alam – opened in 1972 – is part of a corporate restructuring programme aimed at delivering US$1bil (RM4.7bil) in cost reductions by 2025. The shutdown on June 30 will affect more than 500 local employees.

“We will continue to serve the Malaysia market with our industry-leading products and solutions from other manufacturing sites within Goodyear’s footprint,” the company said in a statement.

Goodbye: The Goodyear Malaysia Bhd tyre factory in Shah Alam is set to close by the end of this year. — The Star

Word has it that the American company is moving to Vietnam because of the bigger market there and the availability of sources for tyre manufacturing.

To mitigate the impact on the affected workforce, the Malaysian government has mobilised a team to facilitate job placements as well as offering upskilling and reskilling programmes, said Mida.

It is a business decision made by the company, and after running at a loss since 2017, Good-year cannot be forced to stay on when it is only producing tyres here. This is a market economy, there is no point staying if the business is not worth it.

Now that Malaysia has lost Goodyear, what type of potential investment does it want to attract?

The New Industrial Malaysia Plan 2030 was launched last year to transform Malaysia into a high-tech, industrialised nation in seven years. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said industries are encouraged to innovate and produce more sophisticated output, embrace technology and digital transformation, push for net zero emissions while safeguarding economic security, and increase inclusivity.

Those in the business of promoting Malaysia as an investment destination believe that, yes, the country is attractive for investments in artificial intelligence and digital-related industries.

We often hear announcements following the Prime Minister’s working trips or trade missions abroad that Malaysia has secured billions of ringgit in potential investments, along with the associated creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs. Mida said Malaysia achieved a historic investment performance in 2023 with RM329.5bil of approved investments across various economic sectors.

All this looks good on paper, but how many per cent of this is realised investments?

Investment numbers are important but the “glory” should be felt by the people on the ground, which means real job opportunities and an improved standard of living.

Then there is the other aspect: How to supply labour to meet the expected investments? The government keeps talking about reskilling and upskilling labour to prepare the workforce for future jobs. Why are we still talking about this? Shouldn’t we have made preparations already?

Changing the direction of government policy, especially in trade and investment, is not the work of one ministry alone, it takes many ministries.

A government officer said now that there is political stability, the government must be bold in making decisions and changes in policy direction despite potential risks.

“Civil servants are on the ground and well exposed to global demand but if the political decision is not there, no direction will come.”

During her time as a minister, Rafidah said she would hold ministry dialogue sessions with the private sector and representatives from relevant ministries to maintain Malay-sia’s investment potential.

“Then I would give a report to the Cabinet within two weeks, pointing out issues and the recommendations from the dialogue.

“Ministers then have to report to the Cabinet on their ministries’ follow up actions, and Miti reports back to the private sector,” Rafidah told this writer.

Such dialogues were not held at federal level only, Miti also held them at state level.

“The dialogues were all scheduled and at state level, the menteris besar or chief ministers would attend, and involve the private sector operating in each state.

“Reports were also made to ensure follow up after each dialogue.

“Anything in between dialogues was brought up at the MBs and CMs’ conference chaired by the prime minister,” said Rafidah.

An official recalled the dialogues chaired by Rafidah and noted that everyone was kept on their toes.

“You fail to give a good and acceptable reply, you will get an earful from her,” said the official.

Another official said other ministries must come in to work together. Now, though, it seems like each ministry is working in a silo.

“It has to be a concerted effort and a national agenda, not a single ministry’s agenda.

“The ministries entrusted to take the lead role in the economy and investment must provide the guidance and other ministries should follow through.

“The other aspect is for government officers to be empowered. It must be ‘we’ not ‘me’.”

It is vice versa for civil servants who must be daring enough to share the truth with politicians and not become yes men. Appointing the right person to the right post in the relevant ministries and agencies is also crucial.

But the reality behind all that is that foreign investors still make decisions based on cost. Our labour is no longer cheap so we need a new value proposition, such as having more green energy sources, to keep investors from advanced markets in Malaysia and attract new inflows of capital.

Attracting high quality businesses means offering high salaries and having sufficient talent – or does Malaysia still have to resort to getting foreign skills?

Malaysia needs to compete on a different level now to be a really attractive investment destination, but is everyone on board with this economic agenda? Or do direction and focus remain unclear?

Can we expect another “good year” this year?