1. Malaysia Progress towards and prospects for economic development

2. What is an Asian Tiger? The term “Asian Tiger” is used to describe highly developed, free market Asian economies. The first wave of Asian tigers so called because of the speed and ferocity of their development and industrial/economic growth, comprised Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and south Korea. Malaysia is usually described as a second wave Asian tiger. Malaysia earnt its title as an Asian tiger on the basis of its successful transition from dependence in the 1960s and 70s on primary product exports to manufactured exports in the 1990s. In 1970 rubber and tin made up 70% of exports, whereas by the end of the 1990s over 80% of exports were manufactured goods.

3. Manufacturing in Malaysia: Although economic growth is huge in Malaysia, it is mainly located to certain sectors. These industries are mainly domestic and household goods like food and drink. These are located in Kuala Lumpur which is the capital. The exports include electronic goods, machinery and textile industries. These are located in the port at Georgetown (found close to Penang) The factors which influence the economic growth: The government has been of prime importance as Dr Mahathir Mohammed encourages oversea aid and investment. Cheap labour has also encouraged western countries such as Bosch to relocate their factories over to Malaysia, as western labour can be expensive for companies due to high wages. Education rates have increased so that the availability of quality labour has improved. Transport and the creation of ports and airports has increased the levels of imports and exports.

4. Bayan Lepas industrial park: Located in Penang Good transport links as close to the airport, and also close to the sea so exports can quickly be shipped via boats Set up in 1972 Trade free zone Attracted technology companies such as HP which has over 4000 employees. Bosch employees over 3500 employees. The industries have moved from primary industries to tertiary and quaternary sectors such as research. Pay and conditions for employees have also improved over time.

5. Future economic growth Vision 2020-this plan formulated by the Malaysian government aims to make Malaysia a fully developed industrial country by 2020. The latest project involved is the Multimedia super corridor; a strip of land 50km long and 15km wide south of Kuala Lumpur. It is aimed to echo silicon valley – the American base of google and yahoo. Two new cities powered by solar energy will be built, work ha already begun on one of them - Cyberjaya Microsoft, IBM and Nippon telegraph have all been lured in by tax breaks. It is thought that the presence of bill gates – an enthusiastic patron will help lend prestige to the project. Not everyone is optimistic about the plans, opposition parties say that the large investment in development should be spent on low cost housing for the homeless The movement from primary industry to secondary has resulted in a loss of capital investment required to improve farming techniques and keep the primary resource industry alive

6. Issues faced my an LED like Malaysia: MEDCs dominate economic activity throughout the world. They also have more political power and leverage than LEDs so they are often outvoted when economic issues are being debated. Locally owned businesses suffer as resources such as land, factories and employees are taken by multinational corporations which have outsourced to LEDs Due to large amounts of economic aid which are needed for LEDs to become NICs, they become venerable if there was to be a lack of investment. Much of the income which LED’s have are due to exports and therefore are reliant on worldwide economic conditions and demand, for example Malaysia particularly suffered due to the credit crunch.