Look at
Indonesia and Malaysia and Thailand, all three economies have surged past the
Philippines in economic growth and have higher quality of lives for their
people. But the Revolution in Asean did not start in the Philippines. The Asean
Revolution started a few months prior to Duterte’s ascendency as the President
of Philippines, right in the heart of Malaysia!
Unbelieveable,
but the Chinese are moving into Malaysia in a very big way. Duterte was
successful to clinch $24 billion of contracts for the Philippines in 4 days, a
very good result. The Malaysians have an earlier start. 4 major projects in
Malaysia, some started a few years earlier, are worth at least $100b, from the
Forest City in South West Johore, the Greenland development in Johore Bahru,
the megacity in KL that would be the new transportation hub for high speed
trains linking to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar and onwards to China
and Europe, and the newly commissioned Malaysia China Kelatan Industrial
Park.
Malaysia is
getting an economic boost from the Chinese investment and would take off way
ahead of Indonesia and the Philippines. If
you have not heard about it, the Chinese have started production of high speed
trains from their factory in KL in preparation for the building of the high
speed trains in Malaysia. Najib is
visiting China to raise Malaysia China relations to a new height.
What is
happening in Malaysia could be the things that the Philippines could also be
expecting in the Duterte Revolution. Philippines could go the same path as
Malaysia, for economic growth and development and not be made the quarrelsome
barking dog of the Americans, everyday dying to fight a war, raising and
provoking tensions in a conflict that it can never win except to drain its
limited resources, the lost of more Pinoy lives and forever be dependent on the
Americans to dole them with junks and crumbs. What are the Americans offering,
more military training to fight a green monster, selling of weapons and stoking
rebel activities in the South.
With
Malaysia taking the lead, showing the way, the Thais and the Philippines
tagging along, Asean is going to see rapid economic development and growth
while the world economy goes on a downward swing. Singapore got to be very
careful not to lose out in this Chinese stimulus and miss the train, literary
and otherwise. Yes, if the high speed train linking to China and Europe just
ends in KL, KL will be the new transportation hub, replacing Singapore or at
least taking away half of the transportation and logistic business. With all the goods between Europe and China
travelling by train, by passing Singapore, you can expect a drop of 50% of sea
traffic calling at Tuas. Oh, before I forget, Thailand would be the biggest
land transportion hub in Southeast Asia with high speed trains linking to
China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
The Asean Revolution has started and hundreds of
billions will be injected into the Asean economies to drive the needed growth
to keep Asean countries afloat in a world economy shrouded by dark clouds and
uncertainties. The poor Americans did not have the money to finance such huge
projects at an international scale. Worst, they could not think of it, unable
to conceptualise such an intercontinental idea and lost the initiative to the
Chinese. They forgot that money can be made in other economic enterprises other
than inciting wars and selling weapons.