Category: Malaysia
Singapore eyes Malaysia for cheaper living
Singapore eyes Malaysia for cheaper living
Financial Times, 4 Feb 2013
By Jeremy Grant in Singapore
When Tina Ward, a Singaporean mother of two, and her British husband realised they were outgrowing their cramped, government-built apartment in Singapore, they took a gamble.
Instead of trying to find bigger accommodation in the island city-state, the Wards looked across the Singapore Strait to abandoned palm oil plantations on the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia where land goes for a fraction of what it does on the Singaporean side of the border.
Now, four years later, the family lives in a seven-bedroom mansion with a swimming pool in a community populated by expatriate escapees from Singapore, which is itself just a 30-minute drive away.
“It’s the best decision we made in our lives,” Mrs Ward says.
The Wards were early settlers in Ledang Heights, part of a huge special economic zone called Iskandar that spans a 2,200 sq km area three times the size of Singapore and roughly the size of Luxembourg.
Iskandar is one of over a dozen big-ticket projects under the Malaysian government’s so-called economic transformation programme, designed to help attract higher-value industries and boost foreign investment in the country.
The progress made so far in redeveloping the palm oil plantation is likely to be highlighted by Najib Razak, the country’s prime minister, ahead of a general election due within two months. The prime minister has boasted of his government’s record in attracting inward investment.
The development of new residential and corporate space will also benefit tiny Singapore, where rising costs are hitting some companies and residents hard. Iskandar, said one consultant, could eventually be for Singapore what New Jersey is to New York’s high-cost Manhattan.
Launched in 2006, Iskandar will become a metropolis of 3m people by 2025, policy makers hope, filled with privately funded industry, hospitals, schools and plenty of parks.
They also see Iskandar as a trade and oil storage hub for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose 10 members – including Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia – are growing rapidly thanks to increasing intraregional commerce.
Such have been the attractions of relatively cheap land in Iskandar that it has not only pulled in new residents like the Wards, but also M$105bn (US$35bn) in cumulative investments as of the end of last November, according to the Iskandar Regional Development Authority, which oversees the project.
“We’ve reached a tipping point,” says its chief executive, Ismail Ibrahim.
Investors include three British universities – Southampton, Newcastle and Reading – which are building campuses as part of an education hub, and the first Legoland theme park in Asia, which opened four months ago.
Investors have been lured by incentives such as a 10-year corporate tax holiday and in the special zone of Medini the waiver of affirmative action preferences that usually require foreign businesses to join with Malay, or so-called bumiputra, partners.
Yet the real long-term outcome of Iskandar could be closer economic relations between Malaysia and Singapore, which split acrimoniously from its neighbour in 1965.
Faced with a shortage of land and rising business costs, companies in Singapore may come under pressure to consider relocating some functions, consultants say.
Till Vestring, managing director in the southeast Asia practice at consultancy Bain, suggests that Iskandar and Singapore could develop a “twinning” concept similar to that between New York’s Manhattan district and neighbouring New Jersey state.
“An advantage over India or the Philippines is that operations in Iskandar can be supervised easily from Singapore and remain tightly integrated,” he says.
That is the sales pitch being used by Global Capital & Development, a company luring developers to Medini and backed by Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, and its Malaysian counterpart, Khazanah.
Keith Martin, chief executive of GC&D, says: “Singapore actually gets a double benefit because its gets the value-added business of having companies headquarter there, but the support space they get in Medini will free up more land in Singapore for more high value-added businesses.”
Critics of Iskandar say that the project has developed in sometimes piecemeal fashion with ambitious announcements that fall short in the execution. Visitors to the site drive along stretches of road flanked with empty land awaiting development.
In addition, local politicians warn that the region’s predominantly Malay population is being economically marginalised by a flood of investment that has inflated property prices.
Nur Jazlan Mohamed is a member of parliament representing the United National Malays Organisation – the dominant party in Mr Najib’s governing Barisan Nasional coalition – in the state of Johor.
He says he has reservations about the project: “Everyone’s suffering as prices are beyond the median incomes of people here. There were a lot of incentives given to foreign investors but there has to be a balance.”
Temasek, Singapore’s state investment agency, and Khazanah in 2011 agreed jointly to develop a residential and commercial property project in Iskandar which both believe will be worth M$3bn on completion.
“Iskandar represents the most concerted effort by both countries to have some sort of loose economic co-operation,” says Eugene Tan, assistant professor of law at Singapore Management University. “It’s still very early days, but it is a window of opportunity for both.”
This article has been amended to reflect that Temasek and Khazanah agreed in 2011 jointly to develop projects in Iskandar which both believe will be valued at M$3bn when completed, not that both will invest S$11bn in the projects as incorrectly stated previously.
Singapore hikers lost for 15 hours in Kota Tinggi
S’pore hikers lost for 15 hours in Kota Tinggi
8 spent night on slope after wrong turn; call to cabby led to police search
Nov 13, 2012
By Priscilla Goy And Pearl Lee
A WRONG turn left eight Singaporeans stranded in a forest reserve near a Kota Tinggi waterfall for more than 15 hours over the weekend. They were finally rescued at about 10am on Sunday – wet and exhausted after spending the night on a slope and in utter darkness.
The eight trekkers were Ms Tay Wei Xin, 25, Mr Law Teck Chuan, 28, Mr Lim Pong Hui, 27, Mr Wong Thiam Siang, 28, Ms Seow Pei Wen, 25, Ms Xiao Yulin, 25, and siblings Sng Yu Xin, 21, and Sng Ping Qiu, 28.
Ms Tay, Ms Seow and Ms Xiao had trekked in Kota Tinggi, about two hours’ drive from Singapore, a few times before, while the rest were doing so for the first time.
Ms Tay, a teacher, said the group, who are all friends of either Ms Sng or Mr Sng, checked into Kota Tinggi Waterfalls Resort at about 10.30am on Saturday. They had taken a bus across the Causeway, then a taxi to the hotel. They had intended to stay for the weekend. They set off for the Pelepah waterfalls in the Gunung Panti recreational forest at about 11am. The trek was within walking distance of their resort. She said she told the receptionist at the hotel of their trek.
Mr Sng, an application developer, said they had planned to hike upslope, which would take them past the three waterfalls there, and then backtrack to the resort. The end of the trail would be marked by the third waterfall. At about 4.30pm, they came to a point where there were two markers, which are pieces of ribbon or plastic tied around tree trunks by previous hikers. One led to the left, another to the right. Said Ms Tay: “We took the left turn because it led downstream, but after about five to 10 minutes, we realised it led nowhere. There were no more markers.”
The group went back and took the right turn, but realised they were walking in circles. They stopped at about 7pm as it was getting dark. They considered waiting till morning before continuing their trek back, but decided to call the police.
“It was getting very dangerous to walk, and the trail was also very steep and narrow,” said Mr Sng. “We had to walk one by one… we couldn’t go in twos. One person had to stay at the back to flash the torchlight on the trail because it was too dark.” Ms Sng was also having a fever by then.
Mr Sng had saved the mobile number of the Malaysian taxi driver who drove them to the hotel from the Kota Tinggi bus terminal. He called the taxi driver, who alerted the Malaysian police.
Ms Tay said that at 10.30pm, the police called them to say that they would be searching for them. The group waited till about 2am on Sunday, but no one came for them. “We had water, we had food, we just did not have extra clothing,” said Ms Tay. They had between them a loaf of bread, some crackers and sweets – leftovers from the food they had packed for their picnic. Ms Tay, who was wearing two T-shirts, offered one to Ms Sng, who was feeling cold because of her fever. The rest of the group hugged their legs while sitting down to keep themselves warm.
At about 7am, the police called them to say officers would be going upstream to search for them.
When Mr Law went downstream to look out for the rescue team, he saw a villager fishing by the river. He blew a whistle he had with him to attract the villager’s attention. The villager led the trekkers out of the Pelepah falls area to the route that would take them back to their resort. They met their rescuers along the way, said Ms Tay.
The group took a bus back to Singapore later on Sunday.
Asked how they would trek differently in future, Ms Tay said: “I will bring a windbreaker, a lighter, maybe some things to light a fire.” Mr Sng said that although it was unpleasant to have been stranded, he was still up for another trek. “But this time, with a guide definitely,” he said.
The New Straits Times yesterday quoted Kota Tinggi district police chief Che Mahazan Che Aik as advising foreigners who want to trek in the area to alert the hotel operator before setting out or hire a local guide.