Lion group: Does Ibrahim Ali have economic noodles in his head, asks Jui Meng

PKR vice president Chua Jui Meng ticked off Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali for putting a racial tinge on a threat by Lion Group chairman William Cheng, who said earlier this week that he may consider moving his Lion group’s steel manufacturing operations to Indonesia.

Cheng was unhappy that the federal government had failed to levy tariffs on imports of hot-rolled coils from both Indonesia and Thailand, which in turn charged a 48 per cent and 43 per cent duty on the same product from Malaysia.

"Firstly, if Ibrahim Ali has any economic noodles in his head, he will look at the big picture. Firstly, this is not a new phenomenon. Investors have the right to move their capital and money anywhere they like, without being labeled as unpatriotic or uncaring. After all, this is something we have seen even with the Mahathir family's investment in San Miguel and Argentina," Jui Meng told Malaysia Chronicle.

"It may have escaped Ibrahim Ali but the government itself encourages reverse investment to reduce overcrowding and to cultivate best-use of funds. This is a trend that is happening worldwide and there is no room for imputing any racist motives to the business people involved. If Ibrahim Ali is really concerned about the economy, he should question why over the past 15 years there has been capital outflow of RM240 billion and only more or less the same amount of inflow, in other words a net amount of a measly few billions after 15 years of effort. Yet when it comes illicit flows, the Global Financial Integrity has reported Malaysia saw an outflow of USD888 billion over a nine-year period from 2000. If Ibrahim Ali is concerned about the economy, he should tackle issue of corruption directly with the BN government and the Najib administration."

Then there was also Robert Kuok

Indeed, the Lion group will not be the first to shift operations out of Malaysia. The first prominent businessman to do so was Sugar King Robert Kuok, who decided to diversify his businesses into a booming Hong Kong and China way back in the 70s. His foresight proved to be right and he is now amongst the richest men in the on the prestigious Forbes list of billionaires along with Mahathir's son Mokhzani.

There has recently been red-hot speculation that Kuok was forced to give up his sugar businesses in Malaysia. True or not, many of Malaysia's economic policies that protect favored sectors while ignoring others have made made key sectors in the economy uncompetitive and unattractive to its dwindling pool of capable business talents.

Cheng, who has seen bad times before during the 80's recession, made it big, with his Parkson's group doing a roaring business in China's retail market. But it is the lack of tariffs to help his steel firms that now prompt him to seek overseas destinations.

Demeaning Malaysians with low logic

Nonetheless, Ibrahim's outburst as recorded by the Umno-owned Utusan is regarded as an opportunistic strike to further create Malay hatred for the Chinese.

“The suggestion by Lion Group to move to Indonesia is a threat that should be ignored. What is important is that the government must be firm and not bow to such threats. The government must look at the interests of the country before the interests of one or two greedy corporate individuals (who believe) their interests are more important than that of the country and the public," Ibrahim was quoted as saying by Zaini in his column titled “Is it wrong to be a Malay ultra?”

“This group only cares about themselves. (It) only looks out for businessmen but what about the interests of the public including poor Chinese and Indians?”

But heroic he may have thought he sounded, Ibrahim drew flak from Jui Meng.

"Guys like Robert Kuok or William Cheng won't be bothered by Ibrahim. They won't be afraid to put their money where they wish to. Obviously, Najib can do whatever he thinks is appropriate but it is fair enough he has been given warning by the group that it may forced out to lower-cost destinations if there are no tarfiffs. Mind you, I am not saying this is right or wrong. But to relate everything to race in a purely political way is to demean the decades of business development and accumulation of knowledge by the Malaysian people," said Jui Meng.