We need to adopt a different strategy if we want to be a developed country, said Former Prime Minisrer Tun Dr.Mahathir Mohamad.
“Industry, manufacturing industry would help us achieve this ambition. But when we decided to industrialise, we had no knowledge about manufacturing, no capital, no expertise in management and no knowledge of the market. Therefore, we decided on foreign direct investment, and it worked,” he said in a Facebook post.
Today Malaysia has become an industrialised country. 80% of our exports now are made up of manufactured goods. But we are still not a developed country, Dr Mahathir stressed.
“If we look at Japan, Korea and China, we will notice a difference. They industrialise through acquisition of technology and producing their own branded products to compete in the international market. And they succeeded. We now see Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba products from Japan. Hyundai, Kia, Samsung and LG from Korea. And now Huawei and all kinds of products from China.
“We do not have Malaysian branded goods internationally, except gloves although we produce sophisticated components for some of the best brands in the world.
“It is time for us to change our strategy. We should produce not for the domestic market but for the world market,” he added.
Malaysia World News
