The agreement on Johor-Singapore Escimul Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) was announced in early January after negotiations for several months. This project contains most of Johol, southern Malaysia, aiming to increase economic connection between Malaysia and Singapore, but manufacturing, logistics, sightseeing, clean energy, digital economy, etc. Attract investment in the priority field.
Malaysia does not confident that he wants to play a greater role in a global semiconductor and clean energy supply chain. The government sells the country as an attractive place to build a data center. The JS-SEZ agreement can help Malaysia to provide these ambitions and provide complementary benefits to nearby Singapore.
Most of the contracts cover products and people to make it easier for Malaysians and Singaporians to make it easier to cross the border by improving the procedure with QR code without passport, immigrants and customs facilities. 。 Another feature is that Malaysia has opened a one -stop investment center to make it easier to do business in SEZ, and has plans for tax incentive schemes. This contract will be officially ratified late this year.
In this contract report, Financial Times wrote that this contract was assembled under widespread geopolitical conditions, and SEZ was designed to withstand more severe global economic trade conditions. 。 It may be part of the propulsion. However, despite geopolitics, there are some simple economic theoretical evidence. Malaysia has a specific donation required by Singapore companies, such as land and labor. And in Singapore, there is something Malaysia wants. The important thing is that it is the main source of financial and investment. Therefore, it is natural to combine these in a special economic zone.
This is not a really new idea. Batam Island in Indonesian Island, which is a short ferry from Singapore, was identified as a potential industrial development zone in the 1970s. In 1978, the status of the tax -exempt guarantee zone for export was given, and the government began to eliminate the Master Development Plan. However, the large -scale industrialization of Batum did not actually kick off until the early 1990s, when Singapore was more directly involved.
The Singapore and Indonesian joint ventures, which were fully supported by the Singapore government, have become a successful template for the Singapore manufacturing industry to the next country. Currently, Batam is one of the high levels of GDP per capita in Indonesia, and the economic zone has collected about $ 2 billion in 2023. Singapore is the source of foreign investment in Batum, but is still the biggest.
Johor-Singapore SEZ is a clearer development that is being conducted under a more powerful bilateral-related umbrella between Singapore and Malaysia. However, it is promoted by the same basic economic logic that promoted the development of Batum industrial development. The agreement has not been officially ratified, but you can already see some effects.
Many of the areas that form Johor Singapore Sees are part of the Iskandal Malaysian investment corridor, which was established in 2006 and managed by the Iskandal Regional Development Bureau. For nearly 20 years, Iskandal Malaysia has mainly collected investment in manufacturing and real estate, and has recently come from China. However, it was not a complete success because the BBC’s “Ghost City in China” was labeled by the BBC by the BBC. The ISKANDAR Development Bureau reported in 2022 that the total investment of cumulative foreign investment since 2006 is about $ 34 billion.
JS-SEZ’s idea was first announced in 2023, followed by MOU in 2024. Suddenly, the Isukandal Development Bureau has surged to a region that recorded $ 13.5 billion in a new foreign investment commitment from January to June, 2023. 2024. Most of these are from Singapore and China. Waiting for a few years, you need to get more data, but the first report shows that investors and companies from Singapore are actively dealing with special economic ideas. Masu.
Some Indonesia is worried that Johor Singapoa Sees may be away from Batam and suck investment. But the Minister of Indonesia’s Minister of Economic Issues, Erlanga Haltart, said to the reporters as follows. What we can do is compete with them. “
I think it’s correct to neglect the threat that this brings to Batum. Deeper economic integration between Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia is not afraid of both economic and geopolitical reasons. And as long as this area is expected to be expected, it is a good bet that there is enough economic production and opportunities to support Batum, Johall, and subsequent SEZS.
