AS one of her last acts as governor of Bank Negara, Zeti will be asked to write something to be placed into a time capsule at Bank Negara’s new automated cash centre. That capsule will be opened during the 100th anniversary of the central bank in the year 2059.

She has not decided what will be penned on that special sheet of paper that will be given to her, but the symbolic aspect of that gesture goes some ways in explaining the respect her colleagues have for the retiring governor.

Her reputation was forged over a period of 16 years where she served as the head of Bank Negara, with many of those years fire-fighting crisis after crisis, big and small. Her career spanned 35 years at the central bank and Zeti was the head of economics at Bank Negara during the Asian financial crisis. After being appointed as its governor, she had to steer the economy through other rough waters, most notably, the global financial crisis.

Apart from navigating the economy and the banking system through rough patches, Zeti also oversaw the transformation of the banking system. During the past 16 years, Malaysia’s banking system has grown from banks that were predominantly domestic-focused to a few that have sprawling regional footprints. It was during her tenure that two financial sector masterplans were drawn up and executed, resulting in improved efficiency, delivery channels and structural processes by the banks.

Apart from the reach and services of banks, domestic financial institutions have emerged stronger from a period of consolidation and capitalisation that by the central bank’s own assessment, is now able to withstand just about any imaginable crises.

The regularly conducted stress tests it conducts attest to the strength of the banking system. Those tests also help the central bank check the pulse of the banking sector to ensure there is no undue build-up of risks that could derail or puncture the financial system. The process of approving financial products in Malaysia has also kept banking relatively simple and steady.

But it has not always been a trouble-free career as governor. Zeti has had her detractors, which she does acknowledge. The latest has been the way Bank Negara has handled the issues regarding 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), which she now appears to be atoning for past oversights.

But her record, regardless of the hiccups, is one where there have been more accolades than criticism. In her final briefing of the media ahead of the release of Bank Negara’s 2015 annual report, she spoke candidly on a number of subjects, about her career and the state of the economy. Below is a question-and-answer session she had with the media.

In terms of the development of the financial sector, what are you most proud of in terms of the challenges faced and what are your disappointments during your tenure?

The achievements of the central bank have been backed by a very solid team (sitting beside and behind me).

We drove the achievements and many of that were highly challenging. When I complete my term, I give the assurance that this institution is still very solid and resilient, and therefore, has every potential to continue doing the very good job it has been doing and delivering to the people of this country.

Of course, managing a challenging environment, including crises, was one of the accomplishments of this bank. That was very, very difficult.

The other relates to areas involving other countries where we need to build the consensus for the greater good of the region. This was very challenging, as some of these took years and some of it set us so back that we went back to the position where we started. We were sort of worse off and that was very stressful. Our challenges were in the area of financial integration, Islamic finance, in the area to get recognition by the international community on certain issues that we thought were important for the emerging world and the region.

It’s rewarding to see it through during a person’s career lifetime. But it’s the team that did it and it’s a privilege to be leading the team.

I won’t say there were disappointments, but I wish we would have moved a little bit faster on the migration to electronic payments. There were other things that were more important at that time. Now we are placing higher priority on this because the benefit of it would be so immense.

Integration is an ongoing thing … we are not there by any means, but at least we have a platform from which we can leap forward.

In terms of the domestic economy and financial markets, they continue to function very well.

You had talked earlier that you don’t want the position of governor to be politicised. You talked about the virtues and strength of Bank Negara as an institution. How important is it that a governor is a person that will be well-liked by the markets and will continue the work the central bank has done under your leadership?

I have to say that I wasn’t always well-liked. There were times that some of our policies were attacked quite viciously. But we undertook those policies because we had the conviction that they were the right policies to do. It’s not about being well-liked … it’s about people having the confidence that you are going to do the right thing and having the capability also to do it. So, there are a lot of demands on the governor. First of all, having the capability to do it and having the confidence of the people that you are going to do the right thing.

Will the wrong candidate set the central bank back in terms of development that has taken place under your tenure?

The person has to be ready and able and for the team to be here and intact because it is not about one individual. While leadership is important, equally important is for the team to stay together. And the team here is of a very high quality … we spend a lot of time investing in people. We have one of the best talent collectively in all the areas from reserve management to supervision, regulation and economic analysis of international affairs. Like in any organisation, the CEO has to command the respect and confidence of the team. Without that, the central bank will be set back.

Is it a concern that the independence of the bank may be compromised if someone from the outside comes in as governor?

Everyone who works in the central bank knows that independence is the most precious thing that we want to safeguard. This culture of independence was already there before my time; the culture that we don’t want to be drawn into politics. In the 60s and 70s, we did not have the kind of political pressure as we had during the Asian financial crisis. There is a corporate culture which everyone takes great pride in the feeling that our actions are not drawn into politics and driven by any political agenda.

The political agenda changes all the time and if we are drawn into such matters, the central bank will lose credibility and respect.

The central bank gets its powers from the respect and confidence the people have in us. This is where the power of the central bank is derived from. It’s the same as all other central banks.

How would you describe the changes and transformation the Malaysian economy has undergone in the past 16 years?

The Malaysian economy has been able to withstand a lot of shocks like the energy and commodity shocks, the volatile and disruptive financial markets, the surges of inflows and outflows.

Are we satisfied? I would say no because in our assessment, we could be so much better in terms of being on a higher phase of growth. Because we are ambitious, at least I am ambitious in anything that we do, if we compare ourselves with some of our peers, we are doing quite well. But if we compare ourselves with, say, South Korea, the country was poorer than us before but it is now a developed country. So, we ask ourselves why aren’t we there too?

So, how can we make ourselves better?

Several years ago in 2009, we made a presentation to the Cabinet. We were discussing among ourselves the three most urgent things that needed to be addressed. When we presented it to the Cabinet, we asked to pick one and after I reflected for a while, the answer was education.

From the entry point to the CEO level, we have one of the best education programmes. We spend so much effort on this but we wish it’s across the board.

The other two were price distortions and having the broadband infrastructure that is important to advance the economy. You can have the other two but without education, you still cannot move forward.

In the short to medium term, what is the risk to the economy? Is the 1MDB issue still a certain risk?

The current risk volatility in the financial markets. If our level of indebtedness goes higher (at the current level it is just manageable), that means that as we go forward and take on more and more debt, it will become like what Europe is facing. That is even if you get higher income or better growth, you will have to repay your debt. So, you are consuming now based on your future income, which means we are getting our future generation of grandchildren and great grandchildren to repay for our excessive expenditure.

In the current environment, if we don’t rein in our borrowings, not only household or corporate but the public sector also, it poses a future risk. Right now, everything is about a manageable level. It’s not alarming or a great concern now, but beyond that is a future risk.

Then, there are other issues like an ageing society. Fourteen years from now in 2030, 15 per cent of our population will be ageing, which means we would need to have facilities to support them. And we have to start preparing for it now. We can deal with the current challenges because we had prepared for it 10 years ago.

How do we define the independence of the central bank?

There should be no external influence on the decision-making process of the central bank in regards to our mandate.

A few days ago, at one panel discussion meeting where the audience was made up of central bank governors and their delegations, a question was posed on how the governors dealt with interference. That’s a question all governors share with each other. The governor of the Reserve Bank of South Africa’s response was: you have to stand your ground, which means do what is in the best interest of the country. When it came to my turn to give a response, I said, “of course the central bank has to stand its ground, but better be sure you are standing on solid ground”. It drew laughter from the floor. Because if you want to be able to stand your ground and be able to deliver for the people of this country, you have to stand on solid ground. We worked with the Government to do all this.

How have you been dealing with politicians in this country? Has it been difficult over the years?

We have a professional relationship. We don’t get to know them well. That is how it is and that is how I guide.

You can’t be their friend, but that does not mean we are not going to work with them. We have no problems working with so many agencies. Take small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for instance. We have to work with many agencies. It all started with why banks were not lending to SMEs and when we asked the banks, they said it was because the SMEs were at a low level of development because their contribution to the economy was less than 7 per cent then. So, we recommended a few things like setting up a National Council, which the Government did during Tun Dr Mahathir’s time.

Then, we wanted to set up an agency – SME Corp – to be independent in reporting to the board. Just about every ministry attacked us for that and said that it would erode their powers. We went on with this and demonstrated that their powers were not eroded. As a result of the formation of the SME Council and SME Corp, now the contribution of SMEs to growth is more than 30 per cent.

Earlier on you had talked about building future resilience and being focused on some key challenges like productivity and technology. The brain drain seems to be at a critical stage as highlighted by some reports. How does this affect the building of future resilience?

I think every effort is being done to address the brain drain. We need the talent to remain and we need to build the existing talent. And most of all, we need strong institutions as well. We need many things to realise that.

This also relates to moving up the value chain and if the job opportunity is not there to keep the talent, then the talent will move elsewhere. It’s all part of a circle. If you have an economy that is moving up the value chain, there would be job opportunities for the talent and they will stay.

Are we moving up the value chain at the required pace?

If we compare ourselves against South Korea, we could have been much higher up the value chain. One of the things that is holding us back is the over-dependence on low-cost labour. While our economy cannot completely not need low-cost labour, the question is one of over-dependence, which is shuttling us to a particular state of economic activity and preventing us from progressing further.

We can’t be competing on cost, we have to compete on quality and that will allow us to move up the value chain. The number of patents by our residents is one of the lowest. These are some of the structural things that we must address.

How do we regain the loss of investor confidence?

The point I want to emphasise is that Malaysia is in a position to manage the current environment and is still growing in 2015 despite the collapse in commodity prices. Of course, there is some loss of investment activity in the economy because of confidence issues and waiting on the sidelines for some certainty about where the ringgit is headed. We got the International Trade and Industry Ministry working very hard to attract investments. Malaysia is still attracting investments into the country, as we have a low cost of doing business, but we need to have the talent so that we get the right type of investments.

Of the few economic crises under you tenure, which was the most challenging?

It was the 1997/1998 Asian economic crisis because it involved the whole region and it was made worse on how it was managed in some of the other countries with no end in sight. In 1997, Malaysia still had 7 per cent growth. Then in 1998, for the first time in our history, we had minus 7 per cent. We never had that kind of economic contraction.

The good thing at that time was that the developed world was growing well. We managed to stabilise the domestic economy and picked up based on the demand from the global economy.

The issue we are facing now under the current circumstances is that our domestic fundamentals are relatively sound but the world environment is not as good.

In the annual report, household debt is at 89.1 per cent and does not seem to be going down.

Of course, as debt is growing faster than income, but assets are more than two times liability.

In terms of quality of debt, the non-performing loan ratio is at 1.5 per cent, meaning that there are not many loans that are turning bad and the people who borrowed can afford to borrow. We look at a wide range of indicators, but if this trend continues, then it will become a concern.

From an economic perspective, if you have credit-driven growth, it is not a sustainable economy. As a policymaker, we also have to be cautious from the perspective of how fast we want that to grow. Addressing the issue on that level, given the demographics of our society, it is going to continue to grow. But we need to look at who is this debt with; is it with people who can service the debt or those who are financially stretched?

Are you going to write your memoir?

I will do some writing, some serious writing on subject matters like integration or central banking.

Are you going to play a more active role in society?

I have not had time to think about that, but I know I am going to do some writing and spend some time with my family. The bank has not been too kind to me in allowing any free time. The past 12 months have been back-to-back in terms of functions. My life has been very full this past year but I enjoyed it.

When you took over, did you expect to last 16 years?

I didn’t, and people ask me why I am not staying on to match Tun Ismail Mohd Ali’s record of 18 years.

That is not the objective. The thing that is important is what you do while in office.

In a statement on Friday, the Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers (CMTM) said the industry was facing a major crisis following the “drastic” excise increase of about 40% in November last year to 40 sen per stick.

“Legal industry volumes have been severely impacted, registering a significant decline by approximately 30% post the unprecedented excise increase. This would mean that excise revenue collection would be considerably lower than before November 2015,” it said.

“The industry is already at a tipping point and will not be able to withstand another excise increase this year. In the current operating environment where consumer sentiment is at a low, another round of excise increase will only produce a no-win situation for both the Government and the legitimate industry as consumers will switch to cheap unregulated illegal alternatives.”

CMTM, an industry organisation established by the country’s three major cigarette players, said the steep excise increases against the backdrop of a challenging economic environment and weak consumer sentiment had led to the volume of illegal cigarettes escalating to 45.6% of the market (based on a study by market research firm Nielsen).

“This essentially means that almost one out of every two packs sold in Malaysia is illegal,” it said, adding that the illegal segment was anticipated to overtake the legal segment in Malaysia soon.

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CMTM said the unprecedented excise increase had disrupted the significant progress that Customs had made in its fight against illegal cigarettes.

“In view of the alarming level of illegal cigarettes in Malaysia, CMTM believes that this issue needs to be made a national priority. The industry urges the Government to consider a moratorium on cigarette excise to allow the market to stabilise and for all law enforcement agencies to support RMC (Royal Malaysian Customs) in the fight against illegal cigarette trade,” it said.

Earlier this month, a CMTM member British American Tobacco (M) Bhd (BAT) announced that it would wind down its factory operations in Petaling Jaya “amidst an increasingly challenging business environment.”

“The high excise environment has ultimately led to the sharp rise in illegal cigarettes and significantly lower legal sales volumes resulting in rising cigarette production costs,” BAT said in the statement to Bursa Malaysia.

Credit guarantee policies are considered “a lifebuoy” for many SMEs. Why?

SMEs are weak in management capacity and lack mortgages, so many of them can’t meet the lending requirements of banks. The government has been aware of the situation and established credit guarantee funds in some localities nationwide. It assigned the Vietnam Development Bank as a guarantor for SMEs to borrow capital from commercial banks. With such assistance, enterprises have been able to manage funds for their projects and many have been given strength to overcome obstacles.

In developed countries in the region and the world, credit underwriting is very popular as a good supporting channel for business operations, especially operations of small companies with limited production facilities and capabilities.

Why are credit guarantee funds still generally assessed as inefficient?

This is true. Many factors make it hard for credit guarantee funds to operate efficiently in direct and indirect ways. The legal framework for operations of the funds is insufficient, with regulations remaining inconsistent and even conflicting. This causes difficulties for borrowers, lenders as well as guarantors.

Credit guarantee funds are formed from three sources: local state budgets, contributions from enterprises, and finances from domestic and foreign organisations. The overseas source is almost insignificant, so the size of current funds are very small, amounting to only some tens of billions of dong. There are also high risks for operations of the funds, which manage incomes and expenses themselves without any refinancing sources. Poor capacity of fund-operating staff in assessing enterprises’ performance and the feasibility of their projects resulted in many bad debts.

Representing SMEs, what does your association hear from firms accessing bank loans with credit guarantees?

The majority of the enterprises hesitate to use credit underwriting to borrow bank loans, blaming complicated procedures in accessing the guarantee service. The assessment process repeats and fees double when the companies deal with both guarantee funds and commercial banks. This shows that guarantors and banks lack close co-ordination and mutual confidence, and their enterprises will be put at a disadvantage. In many cases, funds and banks are also worried about irrecoverable debts and unwilling to lend. Thus, relation of the involved parties is even more slackened, meaning chances are less and less for SMEs to receive support.

What measures are needed to solve this problem?

There must be a complete legal framework that resolves the inconsistency in policies, and capital sources for credit guarantee funds need to be diversified. Don’t count on financial contribution of enterprises because they are struggling themselves, let alone assisting others. Fund managing staff must improve their abilities to ensure credit security and uninterrupted fund operations, and the government should help guarantors increase capital by introducing efficient models of fund to attract foreign investments.

Nguyen Cong Ai, partner of auditing firm KPMG, told participants at a seminar titled “TPP and the Textile, Apparel and Footwear Sectors” held by the Vietnam Investment Review in HCM City yesterday that Vietnam currently depends too much on imports of raw materials.

“It is estimated that 60-70 per cent of inputs are imported, predominantly from China, South Korea and Taiwan,” he said, pointing out that imports from China account for 48 per cent of the textile industry’s feedstock.

The industry can source only 2 per cent of its cotton needs locally and 12.5 per cent of fabrics, and the quality is inconsistent, he said.

Another challenge is the weakness in design, he said, explaining that Vietnamese textile and garment companies are mostly subcontractors for other firms in the region because they do not have the ability to design and develop their own brands.

“Only 2-3 per cent of Vietnam’s exports is of ODM (original design manufacturing),” he said, referring to products completely made by producers from the design to the finished stage.

The sector’s productivity is low at a third of Hong Kong’s and a fourth of China’s, detracting from its competitiveness, he said, pointing out that Vietnamese garments are 15-30 per cent more expensive than the global average.

Weak marketing and distribution worsen the problem, he said.

In the footwear sector, the local content is no more than 45 per cent, while it has to import 80-100 per cent of leather, chemicals for tanning, soles and buckles, and synthetic rubber from Taiwan, China, Thailand, and Brazil, he said.

The tanning industry can meet only 10 per cent of the demand and operates at 25 per cent capacity due to a shortage of materials, he said.

The industry shares the weaknesses of the textile and garment sector with respect to design, marketing and distribution, he said.

He suggested that link between companies in the value chain should be promoted through planning and developing industrial clusters specialising in textile and garment and footwear.

The two sectors should increase investment in producing feedstock, weaving and dyeing, he said.

Supporting industries, especially domestic companies in them, should be provided easy access to credit, he said.

They need to adopt modern technologies to improve design capacity thus add value to their products, he added.

Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises, agreed with Ai, saying the textile and garment and footwear associations should strengthen co-operation among their members and help set up specialised industrial parks.

He called on the Government to facilitate the parks and support businesses facing difficulties.

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong said TPP countries account for 40 per cent of global GDP and 30 per cent of trade, meaning the deal would bring plenty of opportunities as new supply chains are formed.

“Joining the TPP will give Vietnam the chance to upgrade its investment and business environment, attract foreign investment, speed up its restructuring process and shift its growth model.

“The country will also have more opportunities to spur economic growth and the associated benefits of the partnership will help raise VN’s competitiveness and, importantly, boost exports.”

Vietnam has around 6,000 companies in the textile and garment industry that employ more than 2.5 million workers. Last year exports were worth US$27 billion, or 16.6 per cent of the country’s total exports.

It was the world’s sixth largest garment exporter behind China, the EU, Turkey, Bangladesh, and India.

Footwear exports topped $12 billion, up 16.3 per cent from 2014.

“The global economy is becoming more interconnected, more diverse and complex,” said Heng. “We must work together to muster our resources, to innovate, to scale up and internationalise.”

The Industry Transformation Programme will “transform our enterprises, transform industries and transform through innovation”, he said.

It will do so by:

– Integrating the different restructuring efforts

– Having measures that are more targeted and sector-focused

– Deepening the partnerships between industry and government and among industry players

– Stressing even harder on technology and innovation.

At company level, Heng outlined four initiatives to help companies build deep capabilities, deploy technology, develop scale and internationalise:

An Automation Support Package will help companies, smaller firms especially, with the huge financial outlay that comes with rolling out or scaling up their business. It involves a grant of up to 50 per cent of project costs, capped at $1 million.

There is also a 100 per cent investment allowance for automation equipment while the Government will improve smaller companies’ access to loans to buy equipment under a Spring Singapore scheme by taking on 70 per cent of the risk from 50 per cent currently. For non-SMES, this will be capped at 50 per cent.

Together, the Automation Support Package will provide support of over $400 million over the next three years, said Heng.

He also announced a set of financial and tax incentives to support smaller businesses to grow that include expanding the existing SME Mezzanine Growth Fund by $50 million to $150 million.

This will be done by the Government matching up to $25 million of new private sector investment. To encourage larger firms to grow even bigger, the mergers & acquisitions allowance will rise to deals worth $40 million, twice the current cap of $20 million. The double tax deduction for internationalisation scheme will be extended till March 31, 2020.

To provide upfront certainty to companies as they restructure, the Government will also extend the non-taxation of companies’ gains on disposal of their equity investments until May 31, 2022.

WHO warns of 50,000 unreachable TB cases

Myanmar is estimated to have about 200,000 tuberculosis patients and is providing treatment for around 150,000 of them while the rest are still unreachable, according to the National TB Programme under the Ministry of Health.

The health ministry set up mobile health-care teams to provide treatment for TB patients in rural areas, workplaces, prisons, refugee camps and mines across the country.

“We found more than 140,000 regular TB patients a year. The WHO [World Health Organisation] estimated about 200,000. It says the current population of 51.4 million has about 50,000 undetectable TB patients. We have set up nine mobile teams and use potable digital X-ray machines to find them across the nation. They need to be found as early as possible,” said Dr Sithu Aung, project manager for the National TB Programme.

Myanmar still has diseases such as TB, TB/HIV and drug-resistant TB at a rate three times higher than the world average, according to the WHO.

The ministry recently announced a five-year national anti-TB plan running until 2020, based on the WHO’s End TB Strategy.

Speaker Mahn Win Khaing Than declared that MPs did not object to any minister’s qualifications.

The cabinet members are Aung San Suu Kyi, Dr Aung Thu, Thant Sin Maung, Thura Aung Ko, Ohn Win, Thein Swe, Kyaw Win, Khin Maung Cho, Dr Myint Htwe, Win Khaing, Dr Win Myat Aye, Ohn Maung, Dr Than Myint, Naing Thet Lwin, Dr Phay Myint, Lieutenant-General Sein Win, Lt-Gen Kyaw Swe and Lt-Gen Ye Aung.

Their portfolios were not mentioned. Six were the candidates from the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Suu Kyi is from the central executive committee of the NLD.

“On behalf of all proposed ministers, I thank MPs for the ministerial nomination. I pledge that I will fulfil the desires of the people. All the proposed ministers will serve the interest of the country, steering clear of bribery and corruption,” said Khin Maung Cho, who is being tipped as the minister for industry.

“Every ministry plays a leading role. The performance level of all the ministries must be high. The ministries must stay away from bribery and corruption. All of us must try to improve the government’s image. Our policy is anti-corruption. The whole government will stick to this point. All civil servants are to join hands with us representing the public. We are to serve the interests of the public. With the good conviction of civil servants, we must be responsible and accountable. I think we can do the best,” said Dr Win Myat Aye, who is being tipped as the minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement.

“Infrastructure capable of improving the daily life of the people will be given priority,” said Win Khaing, who is linked to the Ministry of Construction job.

Thein Swe and Thura Aung Ko of the Union Solidarity and Development Party became ministers after taking retirement from the military under the previous administration. Thein Swe is a CEC member of the USDP. Most proposed ministers are aged between 60 to 70 but Dr Than Myint is 73 and Naing Thet Lwin is 76.

Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar said the southern city was poised to make the grade because of its swift transformation and strategic location next to Singapore, which other states did not enjoy.

He said in many countries, there were always two competing cities, citing Beijing and Shanghai, Melbourne and Sydney, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and New York and Los Angeles.

“Johor stands in a season of transition. Being high-growth, socially progressive and strategic, the state is well-poised to assume greater significance in the overall journey of the nation.

“Johoreans too are ready to leve­rage on the momentum to position JB as the second city of Malaysia.

“JB is aware of this potential and we believe the Federal Government understands the need to push JB to a higher level,” he said in an interview on the occasion of his 58th birthday and first anniversary of his coronation as the Sultan.

The key catalytic projects inclu­ded the Ibrahim International Business District (IIBD), the High Speed Rail (HSR), the Johor Baru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS Link) and Coronation Square, which would push JB for the second city status.

He said the jewel of the upcoming business district will be a RM3bil complex called Coronation Square. It will come up on the site of the old bus and taxi terminal, just half a kilometre from the city’s transport hub and new immigration checkpoint at JB Sentral.

“All this is in line with my vision of making Johor Baru a financial hub,” he said.

The 2.6ha Coronation Square, so named to commemorate the coronation of Sultan Ibrahim this month, will contain serviced apartments, an office tower, a hotel, retail podium, a medical suite and a banking tower.

Unlike a hospital, the medical facilities will offer mainly outpatient services. It will have modern medical services along with traditional treatments such as ayurveda and acupuncture, and be marketed to international patients.

“JB is located next to one of the most advanced and developing metropolises in the world, Singapore.

“Singapore is one of the most expensive cities in the world and the flow will come to JB,” he said, adding that he had always pushed for the greater use of English because it was the main language in the island republic.

“If JB wants to be regarded as an international city, then it has to act and think like an international player.”

He said there was a need for an exhibition and convention hall in JB for the city to host big trade exhibitions, adding that he would push for a good concert venue suitable for quality acts and that even Kuala Lumpur faced the same problems.

His Royal Highness said once the HSR was in place, it would take only about 90 minutes to travel from KL to JB.

“We want people from the Klang Valley and Singapore to come to JB to enjoy the many facilities that we are building up now, from theme parks to premium outlets. Johor wants to make it easy for concert promoters to stage world-class acts here as we are a progressive state.

“JB has the advantage of learning from KL. We will improve on the strengths and pick up what’s missing in the federal capital and the Klang Valley,” he said.

Sultan Ibrahim said the latest investment figures by the Malaysia Investment Development Authority revealed that Johor captured the lion’s share of approved investment in Malaysia in 2015, adding that at 44% of total value, Johor totalled RM30bil as at September 2015 involving 104 projects.

“I want to make JB exciting and make all Johoreans feel proud and motivated. That is my birthday wish for the state,” he said.

His Royal Highness also said he was proud that the state had grown tremendously by 17.7% between 2012 and 2014, making it one of the fastest growing states.

He pointed out that a middle-class Johorean household earned an income of RM5,197 in 2014, up from RM3,650 in 2012.

Touching on the mammoth Forest City project in Iskandar Malaysia, Sultan Ibrahim said many doubted the project could be done, but it was now a reality with one of the best man-made beaches open to the public.

“There is no economic slowdown in Johor. Everything is still moving,” he said, adding that this project would create ample job opportunities for locals.

Sprawled over 1,386.05ha, Forest City comprises four man-made islands and is a joint development between Country Garden Holdings Co Ltd, a Hong Kong-listed property developer, together with Johor’s Esplanade Danga 88 Sdn Bhd.