Malaysia: From Independence To Global Relevance
How do we ensure Malaysia remains relevant and competitive in the decades to come?
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By
Dato’ Dr Anas Alam Faizli
Strategic Corporate Leader
As we celebrate Merdeka and the upcoming Hari Malaysia, it’s worth asking: what comes after independence?
For decades, our economy has been built on natural resources: tin, palm oil, oil and gas. These served us well, but like all finite resources, they cannot sustain us forever.
Meanwhile, other nations have made bold moves. Bangladesh and Indonesia have outpaced us in pharmaceuticals. Singapore has built global champions through Temasek. China used its state-owned enterprises to extend influence worldwide. China today is everywhere. Global.
The question is: how do we ensure Malaysia remains relevant and competitive in the decades to come?
One pathway worth exploring is to leverage what we already have: a company with global reach, capital, and credibility, i.e Petronas.
Could Petronas act as a facilitator, opening doors for Malaysian players in pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, construction, and chemicals? Could this be the platform for creating more Malaysian companies that earn abroad and bring value back home?
Imagine a Petronas Pharmaceutical, Petronas Construction, or Petronas Semiconductor: built in partnership with local players like Duopharma, Sunway, Gamuda, UEM and others.
If successful, the upside is immense:
✅ Stronger global competitiveness
✅ New engines of growth and high-value jobs
✅ Alignment with the global sustainability agenda
✅ Revenue repatriated home
✅ More Malaysian Fortune 500-level companies
✅ A sustainable future beyond oil & gas
This is not a prescription, but a reflection: as we celebrate our independence and look ahead to Hari Malaysia, perhaps our next leap is to move from independence at home to relevance abroad.
Merdeka gave us independence. The next leap must give us global relevance.
Dato’ Dr Anas Alam Faizli is a strategic corporate leader with over two decades of cross-industry leadership, having transformed both public and private corporations across asset facility management, energy, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals.
He previously served as CEO of OCI TerraSus, Duopharma Biotech, and ProtectHealth, and is widely recognised as one of the prominent leaders of Malaysia’s COVID-19 vaccination programme.
An advisor to the UN Global Compact Network Malaysia & Brunei (UNGCMYB) and IMU University, he is also the author of the bestselling book Rich Malaysia, Poor Malaysians and is formally recognised as an Oil & Gas expert by the Ministry of Human Resources.
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