Improve Malaysia's business conditions: Japan

MALAYSIA ranks among the top most attractive manufacturing locations for Japanese investors, but still needs to improve its business conditions, says Japanese ambassador to Malaysia, Masahiko Horie.

Some areas to be addressed include shortage of natural gas supply, hijackings, stable supply and quality of electric power, waste of electrical and electronic (E&E) regulation and tax incentives for energy conserving consumer goods.

"The natural gas issue has been brought to the G to G (government to government) level as well as discussed by the business chambers. We are saying that any increase in gas prices should be carried out in a gradual manner as it will impact the operations of these companies," he told a media briefing yesterday.

It is understood that 50 to 60 Japanese companies out of 400 other investments are waiting for the Malaysian authorities to address the gas supply issue.

There are 1,400 Japanese companies operating here, of which 53 per cent are involved in manufacturing, mostly in the E&E sector.

On the impact of the financial crisis so far, Horie said although Japanese companies in Thailand have started to streamline and trim their workforce, their counterparts in Malaysia have remained unaffected looking at the operations of Toyota, Panasonic and Sony.

"We hope to see Malaysia as the core growth of Asia with its good comparative advantages - developed infrastructure, quality skilled labour, political and economic stability and social stability as well as a relatively stable currency," he added.