NST Online, February 9, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: There should be "brutal" competition for Malaysia's business environment to thrive, a top industrialist said yesterday.
YTL Group managing director Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, after attending the 1Malaysia Economic Conference here yesterday, said the country could no longer have a "little brother" mentality where businesses are protected by the government.

"It has lulled us into an economic model that cannot be sustained," he said.

"Globally we are not as competitive. Today, at our door-step, we have India, China, Vietnam and Thailand. Even Indonesia and the Philippines are competing against us."

Yeoh added there shouldn't be any subsidies in the country at all, and that Malaysia has "been running on a subsidy mentality" for too long.

He said the government's "experiment" with raising the price of sugar "was interesting".

"I think it's been so successful that they want to raise the price of sugar a bit more," he quipped.

He added that "brutal" competition did not have to mean that those who can't compete will be sidelined.

The government, he said, had a role to play in making sure that didn't happen.

"There must be a social net where those who cannot brutally compete will be helped. But we must live today with market pricing mechanisms in everything. Water, electricity, sugar or whatever."

However, Yeoh was optimistic that the country is "moving in the right direction".

"The prime minister is very cognizant of what is going on in the world, of how competitive Malaysia has to be.

"It's good to have a PM with vision. He has guts. He has the courage to move."

He said the key performance indicator applied to ministers' performances was proof that the government was not just "macro-talking".

"In this aspect, I feel more confident that Malaysia is moving in the right direction.

"If you are doing research about the country, you must be truthful and accurate about your own productivity or your own lack of it and what is the way forward."

Yeoh said all that is left now is for the private sector to respond.

"The private sector has been cynical in the past and I think rightly so. But right now there are enough in this country believing in this journey."