BY: HAYATIE ISHAK

The end of the year is drawing to a close and investors in the country are beginning to size up the next year as they go about with their plans to invest in Malaysia. But uppermost in their minds is whether investing in Malaysia is still a viable option?

Most experts in the business of investing contend that Malaysia is still, and will in the near future, be a goldmine for investors. However, there are certain stumbling blocks and hindrances and the single most obvious is political stability.

While most investors are readily convinced that they should bet on the nation, they fear and worry that the political situation in the country is not conducive especially when pumping in billions of ringgit in long term investments.

This has caused a number of investors to pull out of the country this year. But Malaysian Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim is buoyant and has been busy going on a whirlwind tour of duty to attract investors to Malaysia.

Whether he is a maverick or not is hard to say, but there are investors jumping the queue to put their money in humble start ups or injecting billions of ringgit in sophisticated ventures especially technology and artificial intelligence projects.

But if only the nation and the government can put in place and practise the full tenets and obligations of democracy, if only they can ensure social justice and alleviate poverty, then they stand a very good chance of drawing more investors especially institutional.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher