GEORGE TOWN: The state capital has moved up a notch to become the eighth most liveable city in Asia in an international survey involving 254 cities.
The survey, which was carried out by ECA International, now puts George Town on par with Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
In a press release posted on its website www.eca-international.com, the survey also ranks Singapore as Asia's most liveable city for the 11th consecutive year.
Three cities in Japan - Kobe, Yokohama and Tokyo - occupy the second, third and fourth placings. Hong Kong is in fifth place, followed by Taipei and Macau.
The rating for the cities was based on an analysis of living standards, including climate, health services, housing and utilities, social network, leisure facilities, infrastructure, personal safety, political tension and air quality.
ECA International regional director for Asia Lee Quane also said the least liveable cities in Asia were Islamabad and Karachi in Pakistan, Pyongyang in North Korea and Kabul in Afghanistan.
George Town also moved up a spot in the ranking for the world's most liveable cities at 62nd place.
Five Asian cities made it to the top 10 in the global ranking as the best places for Asians to live in - Singapore (1st), Kobe (3rd), Yokohama (4th), Tokyo (5th) and Hong Kong (8th).
ECA International is a membership organisation for international human resources professionals. It serves a global network of over 4,000 human resource professionals in 71 countries.
It has benefited from strong demand in Asia and efficient policies
FOR the first time since Malaysia participated in the World Competitiveness Yearbook (WCY) study by the Swiss-based Institute for Management Development (IMD) since 1999, the country has been ranked one of the top 10 most competitive nations among 58 economies.
Malaysia achieved an index score of 87.228 compared with 77.162 in the previous year. This has propelled us to 10th place from 18th place last year. The country has benefited from strong demand in Asia and the implementation of efficient government policies.
The top 10 countries and their respective scores are shown in Table 1.
Malaysia has overtaken several developed countries such as Denmark, 13th (2009: 5th), the Netherlands, 12th (2009: 10th) and Luxembourg which was ranked 11th (2009: 12th).
Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed
Malaysia continues to be ahead of Britain, ranked 22nd position (2009: 21st), South Korea 23rd position (2009: 27th) and Thailand 26th (2009: 26th).
Higher Confidence
The improvements have been largely due to the performance of both the statistical and perception data. This reflects the strong fundamentals in the Malaysian economy as well as a positive change in perception among respondents.
The rakyat’s higher confidence level is testimony that the people-friendly initiatives as depicted in the “One Malaysia, People First, Performance Now” have been successful.
Malaysia’s performance according to the four competitiveness factors showed that the country recorded remarkable improvement in rankings for government efficiency at 9th position (2009: 19th) and business efficiency at 4th (2009: 13th). The economic performance and the infrastructure factors improved to 8th (2009: 9th) and 25th (2009: 26th) respectively. (See Table 2)
Initiatives
Since the last quarter of 2009, the economy has been growing at a faster pace than expected. This was due to a combination of government spending, lower inflation rate and accommodative monetary policy that helped boost domestic demand.
Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, higher than the expected 3.2%. The growth momentum continued into the first quarter this year with gross exports rising by 30.7%, contributing to GDP growth of 10.1%.
Malaysia’s export recorded a new high for the month of March this year. This registered a significant growth of 36.4% year-on-year. Given the robust performance and the government’s economic initiatives, Malaysia is expected to achieve its target of 6% growth this year.
Besides the surge in exports, there was a marked improvement in private spending. Automotive sales surged 25% year-on-year in March to 56,139 units up from 44,896 units in the same month last year. Recent high-value investments by foreign companies are indicative of investor confidence on Malaysia.
Coca-Cola is investing RM1bil in a bottling plant and Hong Kong-based Sun Bear Solar Ltd is spending RM5.2bil in a solar glass-manufacturing plant.
For the first time since Malaysia participated in the WCY, both the government efficiency and business efficiency factors achieved remarkable top 10 rankings. This indicates a clear link between public and private sector engagement, which has resulted in a change in the way both sectors regard and work with each other.
Since the establishment of Pemudah (Government’s Special Task Force to Facilitate Business) in February 2007, which was aimed at enhancing transparency and streamlining processes and procedures, tangible results have been evident.
This ease of doing business in Malaysia has impacted positively on the rankings for government efficiency and business efficiency input factors.
For instance, the number of start-up days in Malaysia, an indicator of the ease of doing business, has improved. Currently, the number of start-up days is three compared with 11 previously. The aim is to further improve this to one day.
Continuous Government reforms have also resulted in improvement in several national key areas:
Street crime has dropped by 32% in the first quarter of 2010.
The number of hardcore families listed in the eKasih system has reduced to 32,271 from 44,643.
The perception on bribing and corruption has improved in ranking to 26 from 31 last year.
Bureaucracy in business activity has improved to 4th place from 16th previously.
The New Key Economic Activities, as outlined in the New Economic Model, are expected to further accelerate Malaysia’s economic transformation.
Infrastructure was ranked 25th (2009: 26th). The investment on the country’s infrastructure is for the long term. Hence, this will only show results over time. In 2001, Malaysia’s infrastructure was ranked at 38th position. This has improved over the years to 25th in this latest study.
The report also indicated that the innovative capacity of firms in generating new products and processes is high, with a ranking of 12, despite this being a new criteria.
This is in line with our emphasis on innovation and creativity to achieve quantum-leap growth. The declaration of 2010 as the Innovation Year has been an impetus towards this end.
In addition, the National Broadband Initiative is expected to further narrow the digital divide between the rural and urban areas.
Forging Ahead
Although Malaysia is now among the top 10 nations, we need to strive to maintain this achievement. This is important if we are to achieve high-income status by 2020.
Malaysia has the following challenges:
To continuously improve government delivery system to facilitate business
To strengthen the economy through high quality investment
To groom small and medium-sized enterprises for global competition
To continue to intensify life-long learning and nurture talented workforce; and
To drive productivity and competitiveness through a creative and innovative mindset.
By DATUK SERI MUSTAPA MOHAMED
Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed is International Trade and Industry Minister.
19-year-old boy lost RM8 million in high-stakes gambling within three years
Written by Stephanie Liew
At the tender age of 16, this millionaire's son was addicted to high-stakes gambling. By the time he celebrates his 19th birthday, the teenager has lost RM8 million. According to a local daily, the boy was merely following his father's footsteps and got addicted to foreign football betting on the Internet.
He was even nicknamed Little Dragon for the gambling addiction. When he was growing up, the father often spends time to gamble and thus, the boy was only copying his father's footsteps. When gambling agents offered him a credit of RM100,000, he jumped at the chance to begin football betting over the Internet.
He never learned his lesson as the father would help to settle the debt whenever the boy is in trouble. Within the three years he was addicted to high-stakes gambling, the father had bailed him out a couple of times.
Only when the boy lost RM8 million within the three years, the father decided to stop his son's addiction and told him to withdraw from an Australian degree programme at a college in Petaling Jaya. He is currently working for the father.
There were times when the boy used the tuition fees given to settle the debts. Loan sharks would appear at his doorstep if he failed to settle the debts. Upon learning on the youth's gambling addiction, Klang Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poo convinced him to come forward and share his experiences with the public.
But the boy refused to reveal his identity. Teh concluded that part of the problem lies in the gambling agents who hunted for rich kids. They would go all out to seek for teenagers from rich families in high-end colleges.
Teen's $3.4m losses
A boy who went into high-stakes gambling at the age of 16 accumulated losses amounting to about RM8 million (S$3.4 million) by the time he was 19. --ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN
PORT KLANG - A BOY who went into high-stakes gambling at the age of 16 accumulated losses amounting to about RM8 million (S$3.4 million) by the time he was 19.
The boy, a millionaire's son, had allegedly followed in his father's footsteps by gambling and ended up losing millions in foreign football bets over the Internet. His compulsion for betting was so great that he came to be known as the Little Dragon.
On Monday, Klang Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poo, who was unable to coax the teenager to come forward to relate his gambling spree, said the youth's gambling habit stemmed from his father, a compulsive gambler.
'This teenager grew up watching his father gamble and at the age of 16, he began to gamble after gambling agents gave him a credit line of RM100,000. Each time he was buried in debt, his father would bail him out. Over these three years, there have been several bail-outs,' he said. Datuk Teh added when the accumulated losses came to RM8 million, it was the last straw for the father. The man, in his 50s, barred him from gambling and stopped his son from attending college. He now works with his father.
According to Datuk Teh, the teenager who was pursuing an Australian degree programme at a college in Petaling Jaya had on several occasions used college fees to settle his debts and extend his credit line. He would lie to his father that college fees needed to be paid and use the money to pay the gambling agents. On occasions when he could not settle the debt, the agents would send loansharks to collect from the father. Datuk Teh said gambling agents were the culprits who went after teenagers from rich families.
'Most times, these agents would go to 'high-end colleges' and look for these rich kids. ' Datuk Teh added that Pandamaran New Village had become a hot place for such gambling and simple wooden houses were equipped with Internet facilities for the activity. -- THE STAR/ANN
Boy's RM8mil gambling losses By EDWARD R. HENRY Edward@thestar.com.my
PORT KLANG: A boy who went into high-stakes gambling at the age of 16 accumulated losses amounting to about RM8mil by the time he was 19.
The boy, a millionaire’s son, had allegedly followed in his father’s footsteps by gambling and ended up losing millions in foreign football bets over the Internet.
His compulsion for betting was so great that he came to be known as the Little Dragon. Yesterday, Klang Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poo (pic) who was unable to coax the teenager to come forward to relate his gambling spree, said the youth’s gambling habit stemmed from his father, a compulsive gambler.
“This teenager grew up watching his father gamble and at the age of 16, he began to gamble after gambling agents gave him a credit line of RM100,000. Each time he was buried in debt, his father would bail him out. Over these three years, there have been several bail-outs,” he said.
Teh added when the accumulated losses came to RM8mil, it was the last straw for the father. The man, in his 50s, barred him from gambling and stopped his son from attending college. He now works with his father. According to Teh, the teenager who was pursuing an Australian degree programme at a college in Petaling Jaya had on several occasions used college fees to settle his debts and extend his credit line.
He would lie to his father that college fees needed to be paid and use the money to pay the gambling agents. On occasions when he could not settle the debt, the agents would send Ah Long to collect from the father. Teh said gambling agents were the culprits who went after teenagers from rich families.
“Most times, these agents would go to ‘high-end colleges’ and look for these rich kids. ”
Teh added that Pandamaran New Village had become a hot place for such gambling and simple wooden houses were equipped with Internet facilities for the activity.
On Sunday, Klang and Kapar MCA held an “Anti-Gambling at Internet Cafes” signature campaign at the Taman Eng Ann morning market. It got more than 2,000 signatures from parents in two hours.
Klang OCPD Asst Comm Moha-mad Mat Yusop urged the public to provide information on gambling dens that existed in Internet cafes so swift action can be taken.
