Chow assures investors Malaysia will remain investor-friendly despite political turmoil

SEBERANG PERAI, Feb 28 — Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has reassured foreign investors that Malaysia will remain investor-friendly despite the current political uncertainty in the country.

He said the government’s investment policies will remain unchanged regardless of who becomes the government.

“Now we are only having interim problems, such as the Covid-19, and I believe this interim issues will be resolved soon,” he said referring to the novel coronavirus outbreak worldwide and Malaysia’s political turmoil.

He added that there is even a possibility of better investment policies being put in place once the “interim issues” were resolved.

Chow also believed that Covid-19 and the political crisis did not put a dent in the investment climate in Penang.

“I was told that there were a few investment approvals in January this year by the national investment committee,” he said.

He admitted that there has been postponements and cancellations of launches, signing of agreements and groundbreaking events by investors and factories due to travel restrictions.

“There has been a lot of cancellations, even some factories that are completed decided not to proceed with their launching during this period, but all these do not mean works have stopped, work go on as usual,” he said.

He added all investors that have committed in Penang, including the RM13.3 billion investments recorded between January and September last year, will proceed according to schedule.

Chow had earlier officiated the groundbreaking ceremony of Smith+Nephew’s manufacturing facility in Batu Kawan.

Smith+Nephew Malaysia Manufacturing Site Leader Mark Arthun said the company had invested US$50 million (RM211.30) in the new plant in Penang.

The new plant, to cover 250,000 square feet, will be completed by the third quarter of 2021 and the plant is expected to manufacture its first products by the fourth quarter of 2021.

“We will be hiring 800 people in the setting up of this plant with a majority of them being Malaysians,” he said.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) chief executive officer Datuk Azman Mahmud said the number of companies in the medical devices sector has been growing steadily over the years.

“We have 31 medical technology projects implemented with more than RM40 million invested in 2013 and by 2018, we have RM2.07 billion invested in this sector,” he said.

He said it is a growing sector and an area that Malaysia is focusing to push for further growth due to its high-quality investment and jobs created.