LABUAN: Labuan can potentially become the next Singapore with its booming international business and financial sector, oil and gas and maritime industries.
Labuan Corporation chief executive officer (CEO) Rithuan Ismail said the duty-free island's geographic position linking Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei, and other Asean countries would be an advantage for it to be a viable regional economic destination in the future.
"Foreign enterprises can use Labuan as a gateway to the international market and expand their business due to its strategic location within the Brunei–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippine East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA)," he said at the launch of the Labuan-level Wave Federal Territory Flags Campaign here today.
He said Labuan, being a free port, has business-friendly policies to jumpstart its economic growth.
Rithuan said Malaysians were aware of Labuan's transformation from just being a duty-free-island into a tax haven as Malaysia's international business and financial centre and oil and gas hub, after its elevation into a federal territory, alongside Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, in 1984.
"But, before it can be the next Singapore, it is worth looking at the characteristics which make the city-state successful in the first place," he said.
Rithuan said businesses in Labuan must work together with the local authority to turn the island into an attractive economic destination both for domestic and foreign investments.
"To move forward, we must all change our mindsets. This is important in all our endeavours to develop the island as it gives us direction on how to approach issues and challenges.
"The most important factor in becoming the next Singapore is to have a highly efficient system of government, dynamic and transparent, and be able to focus on economic growth and the wellbeing of its citizens," he said, adding Labuan would resolve various issues that hinder from becoming a developed federal territory.
Meanwhile, Rithuan said the focus on this year's Federal Territory Day is on prioritising the wellbeing and welfare of the citizens in the federal territories. - BERNAMA