SEOUL: Malaysia should emulate South Korea in applying global thinking to further develop the export industry, and not merely depend on the domestic market, according to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He also urged the local market players to give attention to the manufacturing of goods that had high export value, thus yielding high returns and local companies would no longer depend on the support from the government like before.
“South Korea has a different strategy. We merely focused on the domestic market. On the other hand, they had from the very start focused on the world market. We should actually be making goods that could be exported,” he told the Malaysian media before concluding his visit to South Korea, here on Thursday.
Mahathir cited how the South Korean vehicle export industry started with only one brand, Hyundai and expressed confidence that Proton too could achieve similar success.
He added that South Korea had started with the construction industry to the extent that it had reached the desert, besides taking part in Malaysia’s development through the construction of the Penang Bridge and the KLCC Twin Towers.
“They were daring. Although they were previously known as the hermit kingdom, now they could do whatever the west could,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that there was only one company in Malaysia that could be considered as successful, namely, Petronas, and that was because of the natural wealth of the country.
He added that a business must be carried out with sincerity, and would not succeed when there were too many political intervention. - Bernama
