Mahathir’s remarks can scare off Chinese investors

Minister says Chinese developers building holiday homes for Chinese who are not looking to give up Chinese citizenship.

KUALA LUMPUR: China’s investments into Malaysia shouldn’t be politicised as it creates negativity which could scare off investors from China and other countries.

Second International Trade and Industry Minister Ong Ka Chuan, who said this at a press conference after a MoU signing, said he “regretted” the recent claims made by some over the influx of Chinese developments and Chinese-financed projects in the country.

Recently, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad voiced concern over the sale of land to Chinese developers in Johor’s Iskandar region and the upcoming projects which he claimed would see “millions” of mainland Chinese migrating here.

Mahathir has also claimed that the mass migration of Chinese nationals would have an impact on Malaysia’s political and economic landscape.

Ong said China was not investing in Malaysia alone as it was also investing heavily in other countries around the world.

He said China only joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and was only now starting to invest overseas.

Ong, who is also MCA secretary-general, noted that despite China’s recent investments in the country, most of the investors in Malaysia came from other countries, including Japan and Europe.

“There is no one dominant investor in Malaysia. It is just that China has come in only recently.”

Ong said there had been a lot of “misinterpretation” that thousands of Chinese nationals would be given citizenship.

“Some parts of China get very cold during winter and those staying there want to escape the cold. Chinese developers are building holiday homes in tropical countries like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.”

He said many Chinese nationals were now very rich and had no intention of giving up their Chinese citizenship.

Ong also spoke on the importance of Chinese investments in Malaysia, citing the example of the closure of a Samsung factory in Seremban and the AMD factory in Penang.

Both factories combined employed 2,800 workers who were set to lose their jobs until Chinese investors took over the factories for their own businesses and retained the workers.

Locals to be prioritised

Ong also spoke on concerns that locals would be sidelined in Chinese investments, saying the government had policies to protect Malaysian interests, including in areas of labour and procurement of raw materials.

He said foreign companies in Malaysia must prioritise employing locals first.

“If a local can do a job, foreigners won’t be given a working visa. The working visa is only for professionals and specialists.”

In construction, Ong said foreign companies must also source for supplies locally and this also applied to the construction of the China-financed East Coast Rail Link (ECRL).

China tourists vital to economy

Earlier, Ong highlighted the importance of China tourists to the Malaysian economy at the signing of the MoU between Matrade and the China International Communication Co (CICC).

The MoU seeks to promote trade of creative content, such as ad films, documentaries and TV shows, between Malaysia and China.

Ong said such cooperation was important as it not only helped in the export of Malaysian creative content but also to promote the country to Chinese tourists, who contributed significantly to tourism.

“According to tourism ministry figures last year, some 2.2 million Chinese visited Malaysia. The Chinese embassy told me that each tourist spends an estimated RM3,500,” he said at Menara Matrade.

This year, he said the embassy was targeting between 2.6 to three million tourists to visit Malaysia.

Recently, a Chinese media report said social media users in the country had reacted angrily to Mahathir’s recent comments, with some calling for a boycott of Malaysia. FMT