WIKILEAKS: Malaysia's Current Economic Performance Masks Need for Structural Change

Education was among Ariff's primary concerns. Ethnic Malays were poorly prepared for university, he explained, largely due to a separate one-year "fast track" matriculation which was designed to enable them to secure a place in college more easily. Non-Malays were required to complete a more rigorous two-year program and pass an exam. The end result was that the non-Malays did better once they entered university. Moreover, separate education before college led to patterns of self-segregation at the university, and Ariff observed that the various ethnic groups had little interaction.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

1. (SBU) Summary: Malaysia's central bank Deputy Governor considers the country's banking sector unexposed to the turmoil in the US sub-prime mortgage market and believes that the economy remains on track for six percent GDP growth in 2007.

Private sector economists, however, point out that Malaysia's economy is performing under its potential growth rate by as much as two percentage points due to poor government policy. The racial preference policies set out in the New Economic Policy (NEP) are viewed as the primary source of growth-restraining distortions which primarily have served to enrich political cronies. In the process, not only has the NEP failed to reduce poverty among ethic Malays, it has directly contributed to greater income inequality and poverty. It continues to crowd out of healthy private sector investment by government linked corporations.

Perverse education policies have chipped away at Malaysia's ability to produce a competitive work force for a global economy. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi is not perceived as a politician prepared to make the hard decisions necessary to reform the policies upon which his political supporters have come to depend. Middle of the road rates of economic growth prevent a greater sense of urgency among policy makers, but over time these structural policy failures are expected to create even stronger constraints on Malaysia's ability to deliver on robust economic growth. End summary.

CENTRAL BANK: LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

2. (U) In a meeting with Economic Counselor and Financial Attach for Southeast Asia, Ooi Sang Kuang, Deputy Governor of Bank Negara, Malaysia's central bank, expressed confidence that the Malaysian economy would remain largely on track to reach government forecasts of 6% growth for 2007, even in light of the U.S. sub-prime lending problems.

Ooi said that, although Malaysia was fairly insulated from the U.S. sub-prime lending market, he was concerned about how the "sentimental effect" of a significant reduction in financial markets could impact the global economy. He described the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to lower interest rates by fifty basis points as having done "wonders" for the global economy.

MANUFACTURING SECTOR MUST IMPROVE

3. (U) Ooi described Malaysia's overall manufacturing sector as "not robust" and said it would need to become more competitive. The sector that would suffer the most from an economic downturn in the U.S. was electrical & electronics (E&E), which was largely dependent upon U.S. demand for semiconductors, he explained. He said Malaysia was not moving up the value chain rapidly enough, and that the country needed to transform its economy, particularly in light of a strengthening currency that would make Malaysian exports more expensive.

4. (U) Ooi pointed out that the ringgit's long-term value was increasing, and said Malaysian manufacturers would be forced to either "move up the value chain" or relocate if necessary. He said many Malaysian companies were investing overseas, with labor-intensive manufacturing moving to Vietnam and Indonesia.

"MANAGING" FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

5. (U) Ooi said Bank Negara continued to intervene in the foreign exchange market, but only to "smooth it out" and "manage" volatility, since large volumes could "disturb or excite markets" if they were not kept within "tolerable levels" of flexibility. He claimed that the central bank intervened in both directions - to smooth both the highs and the lows. (Note: when asked about this, one private sector banking professional responded that this might be true on a one-to-ten ratio, with the central bank mitigating the "lows" once for every ten times it intervenes to mitigate the "highs.")

ECONOMY STILL CHUGGING ALONG

6. (U) In spite of the setback in E&E, strong domestic demand continued to fuel the economy, explained Ooi. Demand was being driven largely by higher rural incomes resulting from high commodity prices, a recent 35% civil service salary increase, and large government projects being implemented under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

He estimated that the government projects would remain the primary driver of domestic demand until mid-2008, by which time he expected the private sector would strengthen and the government-funded projects taper off. The economy would also benefit by the imminent opening of the Kikeh oil field, Malaysia's first deepwater operation.

FINANCIAL SECTOR LIBERALIZATION

7. (U) For its part, the Government of Malaysia (GOM) would continue to enact financial liberalizations, just as it had been doing for the Islamic finance sector. According to Ooi, the GOM had been adhering to the ten-year Financial Sector Master Plan and in some areas was ahead of schedule. This, coupled with the GOM's recent announcement that corporate tax rates would be reduced to 25% in 2009, would help boost the Malaysian economy.

AN ANALYST'S VIEW

8. (U) While Ooi was upbeat about the Malaysian economy's resilience, Dr. Mohamed Ariff, President of the Malaysian Institute for Economic Research (MIER), was more willing to discuss the weaknesses as well as the strengths. He cited similar economic indicators and pointed to the same strengths - strong domestic demand, government stimulus, and a reasonable forecast of 5.3 to 6 percent growth. But Malaysia had much more potential than that, he said.

Malaysia would need to "move up the value chain" to position itself to complement, rather than compete with, China and other low-wage manufacturing centers in the region. In fact, he said the GOM had rejected many applications to bring low-tech labor-intensive manufacturing to Malaysia, some of which had requested bringing in a few thousand (low-wage) foreign workers. Rather, the GOM was approving higher-tech manufacturing in the E&E sector, but these more capital-intensive investments were not bringing in many jobs for Malaysians, with 20% of new jobs going to foreigners.

REFORMS NEEDED

9. (SBU) To surmount the hurdles and achieve Malaysia's full potential for economic growth, Ariff argued that the GOM would need to enact some politically sensitive - and perhaps unlikely - reforms. First on the list would be to address the "New Economic Policy" (NEP), a system of race-based preferences for ethnic Malays.

Most benefits were going to cronies; intra-ethnic inequality was increasing, especially among Malays; and the entire system was creating a "dependency syndrome," putting low priority on academic achievement, he said.

10. (U) Education was among Ariff's primary concerns. Ethnic Malays were poorly prepared for university, he explained, largely due to a separate one-year "fast track" matriculation which was designed to enable them to secure a place in college more easily. Non-Malays were required to complete a more rigorous two-year program and pass an exam. The end result was that the non-Malays did better once they entered university. Moreover, separate education before college led to patterns of self-segregation at the university, and Ariff observed that the various ethnic groups had little interaction.

11. (SBU) Government-linked companies were another politically sensitive issue that would need to be addressed, as they were crowding out other players in the market, according to Ariff. In 1985 the GOM privatized a number of companies, but these simply went to cronies, he said. It was time for another round, but this would need to be done fairly.

12. (SBU) The race-based preferences in general and the poor educational system in particular were impediments to reaching Malaysia's full potential, but Malaysians were afraid of change, he explained. "We need a new NEP," said Ariff, "and a free press not owned by the Barisan Nasional" (the ruling coalition which has been in power since independence in 1957).

13. (U) Ariff also was disappointed that the newly released 2008 budget contained no reference to the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) which had been pending since 2004. The GST, similar to a value-added tax, would be desperately needed in several years' time when Malaysia was expected to become a net importer of oil. Currently Petronas, the national oil company, provides 38% of the federal government's revenue, and the country's tax regime will need to be restructured to avert a crisis.

14. (U) Comment: There is widespread agreement on what to expect in the near term for the Malaysian economy: not much. The economy will continue to chug along, growing at five to six percent; cronies will continue to benefit from the current system; and, despite Malaysia's greater potential, there will be little demand for change until things get measurably worse. With elections near, no one expects the GOM to take actions that are politically difficult - least of all changes to the NEP, which is the Malays' sacred cow.

KEITH (October 2007)