The Malaysian Economy - The Spatial Perspectives (Hardcover)

The Malaysian economy has enjoyed considerable and increasing success since its independence in 1957. George Cho explores various facets of the current centrally-planned development policy and the colonial inheritance from which it derives. It becomes evident that rural bias is significant in the area of primary commodities, including rubber and tin, and in their relation to the economy as a whole. This is in spite of a conspicuous shift in the manufacturing sector towards export-orientated high technology products. The concentration of this new manufacturing sector in urban areas has in turn meant that Malaysia suffers from many of the problems associated with rapid urbanization. Throughout the text, the author emphasizes the fundamental Malaysian economic policy of combatting inequality. It is this planning, he argues, together with ethnic problems, which pose a substantial threat to the immediate economic success of Malaysia.