KUALA LUMPUR: The government should encourage domestic investment and stop relying on foreign direct investment (FDI) to move the economy, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pix) said.
The government should emulate countries such as Japan, South Korea and China, he said, pointing out that they have become very successful nations by focusing on domestic investments instead of FDI.
“FDI cannot turn us into a successful industrial nation. Countries like Japan, South Korea and China took control of technology and created their own products which they marketed locally and internationally.
“This is why they are ahead of us. We are too dependent on FDI, which is why we are unable to catch up with them. The time has come for us to try a different method,” Mahathir (Ind-Langkawi) said when debating the International Trade and Industry Ministry’s budget allocation.
“We have assets like rubber, palm oil and sand that we can market domestically and internationally.”
He said the government needs to put in effort to market local products on the international stage.
Mahathir cited the glove industry as an example which can be used as a benchmark to develop local industries to meet local and international demand.
The RM1.2 billion allocation for the ministry was passed after the Opposition narrowly failed to stop it following a bloc vote.
The allocation was passed with 110 MPs voting in favour and 104 against it.
Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun announced that six MPs were not present during voting.
The bloc voting was held under a new system that Azhar implemented to prevent a repeat of a miscount last week, where he instructed those taking attendance on each side to be monitored by another lawmaker opposite them.
Last week, Datuk Shabudin Yahaya (BN-Tasek Gelugor) wrongly included Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz (BN-Padang Rengas) in the list of those supporting the Finance Ministry’s budget at the committee stage, when he was not present in the House.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, in his winding-up speech, came under attack from former finance minister Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan).
The RM25 million addition to the ministry’s allocation to host the Asia Pacific Economic Council (Apec) 2020 was too high, Lim said, adding that the RM350 million approved previously was sufficient since the event was held online.
Azmin said the original budget approved in 2018 was RM635 million, but it was reduced last year.
Funds were used for 104 Apec-related meetings that started with Mahathir’s meeting in Langkawi in 2019, he said, adding that the rest was spent on branding and services for the conference.
Azmin said the ministry spent RM66.6 million while the remaining RM233.4 million was returned to the Finance Ministry for use in its Covid-19 stimulus packages.
Lim insisted the figure was too high, prompting Azhar to call for a bloc vote.
