Why I think Iskandar Malaysia Tak Boleh

Here, you will listen to how the (3rd) CEO of Iskandar Regional Development Authority, Ismail Ibrahim is grilled on The Breakfast Grille (BFM 89.9). ~lol~



Iskandar Malaysia has obtained RM56bil investment since 2006 to date, which has exceeded the targeted RM46bil. The way I hear it, there are 10 reasons that the Iskandar project will end up like our mega projects in KL like Cyberjaya.

1. Lack of focus and the IRDA is branding on nothing. It has no plan.
2. We are merely copying what Singapore has been doing with all those creative industries mentioned (IT, entertainment, filming, animation) and we have no edge against Singapore. Medical tourism? How can you succeed when your MPs, Ministers and Sultans go to Singapore for medical treatment? My point is with Singapore in the vicinity, it's checkmate for Iskandar Malaysia.
3. Infrastructure wise, we are not ready. Broadband bandwidth of only 1Mbps, how to support those creative industries?
4. Manpower wise, we are only starting to develop now? And for my friends who had proudly graduated from the local universities and colleges (including me), you know how much we weight. You've been there, you know what kind of graduates our higher education institutions are capable of producing.
5. Cybercity in Kulai? Look at Cyberjaya, no Mc Donalds? Pffft. History in the making.
6. Create higher income society? Just crossover the Causeway lar.
7. Khazanah-linked FDIs - Come, I am paying you guys to f*ck me!
8. Downstream manufacturing -> upstream manufacturing -> manufacturing intensive to service sector intensive. Our neighbour used 30-50 years to make the shift, what makes you think we can do it within 10 years? Some more with so many competent competitors in the region.
9. Friendster coming in, yey! But, do you still use friendster these days?
10. Our dear Ismail Ibrahim himself has so much doubts that he uses "perhaps" and "hope" so many times in his response. It's like saying, "Insya Allah, maybe one day perhaps hopefully Iskandar Malaysia will make it." And if you listen carefully, he keeps beating around the bush without convincing facts and figures.
    
    

More merry-go-rounds here: