Taking Agriculture to a Higher Plane

Policy alone is not enough to make the agricultural sector globally competitive; a vision needs to be put in place to push the country to the forefront as a major environmentally friendly food producer. Publication/Conference: MIERScan, 10 March 2008.  Download

Assessing The Tourism Sector Potential

  Tourism represents an increasingly important sector of the Malaysian economy. The tourism industry has experienced rapid growth and has been identified as a key driver of the growth in the services sector. The industry continues to be a key foreign exchange earner, contributing to GDP (gross domestic product) growth, investment and employment as well … Read more

Affirmative Action in Malaysia

By Lee Hock Guan. Southeast Asian Affairs 2005, The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. Introduction: The prevailing practice of affirmative action typically involves introducing measures to raise the participation of members of an economically disadvantaged group in the areas of education, employment and business, where they had been historically excluded or underrepresented. Measures taken … Read more

Reining in e-commerce

Should e-commerce be regulated by governments, or should it should be allowed to be “self-regulated” by the forces of the free market. Economies work more efficiently when they are free from governmental interference. In this regard, a classical economist Adam Smith claims that an individual pursuing his self-interest by engaging in commerce is “led by … Read more

Some Challenges and Chances for ASEAN

Some of the most pressing questions facing ASEAN involve the ASEAN Charter and the ASEAN Economic Area, China and Japan’s impact on ASEAN, and how ASEAN would fare in the immediate future. These broad issues are best dealt with by dividing them into those dealing with the short-term perspective and those that were long-term concerns. … Read more

Malaysia facing a crisis, but what else is new?

A common refrain in Malaysia is that politics enters a critical period every ten years or so. But in truth, crises come to Kuala Lumpur (and now to Putrajaya) more regularly than that. A speedy assessment may suggest the riots of 1969 to be the first crisis after independence in 1957, followed by conflicts within … Read more