President of the Singapore Manufacturing Federation Lennon Tan told CNA that he is hopeful that the SEZ will not go the same way as the SIJORI Growth Triangle and the Iskandar Malaysia projects because of the intensive business engagement from government officials this time round.
“There is a lot more private sector consultation, industry consultation and this is true for both sides of the government,” said Mr Tan.
“There are very deliberate efforts by high-profile government officials on both sides to endorse and push the SEZ initiatives forward so there’s reason to be hopeful that it will come to fruition,” he added.
Mr Tan, who heads data security firm Adera Global, told CNA that the timing of the SEZ proposal is helpful for some manufacturing companies in Singapore who are grappling with rising costs and inflation.
“Smaller businesses are managing survivability issues with these challenges so the SEZ is a new avenue for businesses to move some of their operations to Johor, maintain competitiveness and keep the same cost structure as it used to have,” he added.
“Businesses are waiting for more information on the SEZ … but I think they remain very, very keen and very interested,” said Mr Tan.
Mr Jason Su, managing director of Singapore venture capitalist firm Farquhar that invests in small companies branching out to Johor, told CNA that he is optimistic that the SEZ will be “successful” in part due to the support of the federal administration led by Mr Anwar which he regards as a pro-business technocratic government.
Mr Anwar has garnered praise from regional business leaders for facilitating a positive environment which encourages foreign investment.
During his tenure as prime minister, multinational corporations (MNCs), including Microsoft, Nvidia and Alphabet have all announced partnerships and investments in Malaysia.
US tech giant Microsoft pledged a US$2.2 billion investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing in May to help develop the country’s AI infrastructure.
Moreover, during his visit to meet Prime Minister Anwar in December 2023, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang jokingly referred to Mr Anwar as the “AI Prime Minister” and lauded the administration for its “excellent infrastructure” to advance AI development in the region.
