Salutations
Dato’ Hairil Yahri Yaacob
Secretary General, MITI
Puan Mastura Ahmad Mustafa
Deputy Secretary General (Trade), MITI
Datuk Bahria Mohd Tamil
Deputy Secretary General (Investment & Management), MITI
Representatives from Ministries & Agencies,
Representatives from the Business and Industry Associations and Chambers of Commerce,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning and Salam Malaysia Madani,
New Deal for Industrial Development legislations
On behalf of Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, I would like to welcome you to MITI for the consultations on a series of new legislations to strengthen industrial development that MITI intends to present to parliament in 2025.
The primary objective of today’s session is to facilitate discussions on five (5) key Acts that have long shaped Malaysia’s industrial landscape, namely the:
• Industrial Co-ordination Act 1975 (Act 156), which is planned to be replaced by the
Industrial Development Bill 2025
• Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties Act, 1993 [Act 504]
• Malaysia Productivity Corporation Act 1966 (Act 408)
• Standards of Malaysia Act 1996 (Act 549)
• Strategic Trade Act 2010 (Act 708)
In September 2023, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim launched the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030) which contains four core missions, namely, to advance economic complexity and thus increase value-adding, to tech-up, to expand green transition towards net-zero, and to safeguard economic security and inclusivity.
NIMP 2030 has outlined three key goals, which are to boost manufacturing by 6.5% annually, contributing RM587.5 billion to total GDP by 2030, to create 3.3 million high-skilled job opportunities (in 2022, the manufacturing sector employs 2.7 million individuals or around 17% of total employment in the country), and to increase the median salary in the manufacturing sector to RM4,510 (from RM1,976 in 2021).
NIMP 2030 should be read in the context of the Madani Economy Framework, which the PM launched in July 2023, as well as the National Energy Transition Roadmap, launched a month later in August 2023.
In short, the Unity Government aspires to re-enact the first economic takeoff between 1988 and 1997 by creating the conditions for a second economic takeoff in the 2020s.
Around that period of time, many legislations were enacted to help Malaysia to adapt into a more complex economy, such as the Industrial Co-Ordination Act 1975, Promotion of Investment Act 1986, Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties Act 1993, Malaysia Productivity Corporation (Incorporation) Act 1966, and Standards of Malaysia Act 1996.
You can see that these legislations bear the marks of the 20th century, and as the world becomes a lot more complex and vastly different in the present day, updating them is not just desirable but necessary.
The most interesting piece of this New Deal for Industrial Development legislation series is the attempt to introduce an Industrial Development Bill 2025 to replace the Industrial Co-Ordination Act 1975.
Tengku Zafrul was born in 1973 and I was born in 1977. The ICA was enacted before I was born!
This new Industrial Development Bill 2025 intends to capture two core spirits of our time:
First, business process simplification for manufacturers.
The draft Bill is guided by the spirit of making it easier for manufacturers that fulfill requirements to obtain manufacturing licenses (MLs) and manufacturing status (in place of the current ICA 10), especially through the adoption of digitalisation and streamlining of processes.
Second, learning the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the resilience of our supply chain.
When COVID-19 hit in 2020, MITI and the rest of Malaysia scrambled to gather data and information to decide which sectors were essential and which were not.
At the same time, as the world moves from a “just-in-time” model to a “just-in-case” model, supply chain resilience is front and centre in the considerations of corporations and governments across the world.
The new Industrial Development Bill 2025 intends to use the issuance of manufacturing license and manufacturing status, as well as the once-every-three-year validation, as a mechanism to
keep track of local manufacturing activities and build a resilient local supply chain. The second part is especially crucial in the process of encouraging foreign investments to localise their supply chains.
Beyond making it easier for manufacturers and ensuring supply chain resilience, the new Industrial Development Bill 2025, which includes elements of star-rating industrial parks, will also be the foundation for Malaysia to build a strong Malaysian industrial base for the next generation.
When the Industrial Co-Ordination Act 1975 was enacted, Malaysia was transitioning from an agrarian society into a more industrial one. Malaysia had very little indigenous technological capabilities then.
Today, Malaysia is well-prepared to move from just housing foreign factories (Made in Malaysia) to a full-blown effort of Made by Malaysia, to create Malaysian technologies.
Malaysian technological sophistication is just below the United States, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and some European Union states but above most developing countries.
In the 2020s and beyond, Malaysia is capable of and should do more to develop “middle tech” for the bottom billion(s) of the world population.
At the same time, the reinforced Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties Act will be more effective in protecting our local industry against unfairly priced imports, especially when faced with potential global trade wars and disruptions.
I would like to extend my thanks to Datuk Bahria Tamil, Deputy Secretary-General (Investment & Management) of MITI, along with Dr Ummi Nasrah Othman (Senior Director), Dr Syed Fatimah Kamal Batcha (Senior Principal Assistant Director), Puan Nurulaina Nadzeri (Principal Assistant Director) and their teams at MITI’s Investment Policy & Trade Facilitation Division, for their efforts in developing the Industrial Development Bill 2025 and the amendments to the Standards of Malaysia Act, respectively.
My appreciation also goes to Puan Mastura Ahmad Mustafa, Deputy Secretary-General (International Trade), Puan Gayatri Kumaraveloo (Director) and her team at MITI’s Trade Practices Section, and Ms Vimala Murugan and her team at MITI’s Strategic Trade Secretariat, for their efforts in drafting the amendments to the Anti-Dumping Act and the Strategic Trade Act respectively.
I would also like to thank Puan Wan Fazlin Nadia Wan Osman (Director) and her team at MPC’s National Competitiveness Section for their work in preparing the MPC Bill 2025.
A special thanks to Dato’ Syed Naqiz Shahabuddin and Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon for their support and invaluable pro-bono contributions.
And finally, Dato’ Hairil Yahri Yaacob, Secretary-General of MITI, who provided leadership and support to the officers in charge.
The Anti-Dumping Amendment Bill is now at quite a mature stage, while all other bills would require further input to strengthen them. All your feedback is welcome and I assure you that MITI is all ears, listening and flexible in accommodating good suggestions.
Thank you very much.