The International Institute for Management Development (IMD) has ranked Malaysia 14th on national economic competitiveness in its 2012 edition.

The Multimedia Super Corridor – a silicon valley and tax heaven rolled into one? Hosts the F1 circuit?

The Petronas Twin Towers, among the tallest in the world? The KL Tower, the fourth tallest tower in the world?

Two other buildings among the top 100 in the world? Modern, urban infrastructure which makes it a ‘world class’ metropolis… skyscrapers, tourists, top hotels and restaurants… and traffic jams!

“Truly Asia” promoting Malaysia as the ultimate tourism destination. MSC status makes getting Expatriate workforce (new skills) easier still

Multinationals being encouraged to expand presence to cover ASEAN region… several, including Citi, HSBC, HP, Shell, Dell and IBM set up regional IT / BPO hubs; Motorola, AIG set up software development and shared services centers. Malaysia emerging as the new ‘model’ Islamic State, where other religions can co-exist and prosper

Ringgit stable, economy coming out of recession; relations with US better than ever before… Moody’s and S&P consider outlook as positiveImportantly, as an old ‘colony’ of the United Kingdom, Malaysia enjoys a mature legal structure, analogous to that of the UK

Intensified government push in producing more IT savvy graduates via government universities and liberalization of private colleges and universities. A large proportion of the workforce are graduates educated / trained in UK, US and Australian universities, making them familiar with the work culture of these countries and excellent candidates to fill-in supervisory / managerial positions

Strong incentive from government to migrate the workforce from manufacturing into knowledge-based industries