BANGKOK – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has suggested that the Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) proposed by Japan to combat the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, should be revised in relation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)+3.
In his keynote address at the Future of Asean lecture, organised by the Malaysian-Thai Chamber of Commerce here today, the prime minister believed that the region can benefit immensely through the AMF.
“We cannot have the (regional) international infrastructure be decided by one outsider or the other. We can work with them but we should have our own domestic, regional and Asian strength, not necessarily to compete (with one another) but to have a buffer zone.
“For those with some experience in it, it will benefit immensely, at the sign of any problem growing, even those days (1990s), we had a session and started cautioning each other on the balance of payments,” said Anwar recalling his first time in cabinet as Malaysia’s finance minister and deputy prime minister.
He added that back then, Asean member states tended to compete with one another instead of collaborating with each other for mutual economic benefit.
Among the examples he gave was the automotive industry, where Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand had competed to build cars.
He added that this was due to each nation’s fierce independence and protectionist policies of the 1990s.
Instead, he said, a better approach would have been that each country focus on a single type of vehicle. For instance, Malaysia could have built cars while Indonesia and Thailand would focus on buses and trucks, respectively.
This time around, he is proposing that each country focus on its specialty and provide those products for the other Asean member states.
In the case of Thailand, Anwar said Malaysia can definitely benefit from its food, digital, transportation and energy sectors that have outgrown Malaysia by leaps and bounds.
Meanwhile, Malaysia can provide Thailand with its expertise in rubber and palm oil.
Asean+3 refers to the 10 regional nations, China, Japan and South Korea. – The Vibes, February 10, 2023
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