Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is busy going around the world promoting Malaysia as a business destination, but those tasked with making doing business here easy are choking investors with red tape.
This is the feedback shared with the prime minister in New York by some companies which experienced serious delays in obtaining approvals to conduct their business in the country.
Understandably, Anwar is very disappointed. Improve, is his advice to the bureaucrats. Making it easy for investors to do business here isn't difficult. It is getting the three Ps right: policy, process and people.
There is some work to do on policy, for sure, but most of the issues investors face are with the process and people. Ministers and ministries must liaise with each other. So must federal agencies and state authorities. Coordination facilitates decision-making.
Besides, Malaysia is a natural business destination. It is strategically located, with the Strait of Malacca to the west and the South China Sea to the east.
Aside from being one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, the Strait of Malacca is the shortest route between the Far East and the Indian Ocean.
As for the South China Sea, it is often described as the most important body of water in the world. The superlative is understandable given that at least one-third of the global trade passes through it.
As they say, there are three things critical to a business: location, location, location. Very few countries can beat the blessings of Malaysia's strategic location. And the very few are Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.
The slow amble of our bureaucrats at the federal and state levels will drive them there. No amount of sales pitch by the prime minister is going to help if we take more time than these four countries to decide on business approvals.
Let's compare Malaysia with Singapore. Bureaucrats will say that is an unfair comparison because Singapore is a traditional performer and Malaysia is an enticing upstart, to use the language of a Singapore business consulting outfit, InCorp.
The tortoise must run the race of the hare if Anwar's directive of "improve" is to have any result. If some entities can set up their business in a day there, we must ask why we take between five and 10 days? The answer is in process and people.
As for process, our bureaucrats must aim for one-stop decisions, not just one-stop centre. Investors, especially global players, are practical people.
They don't expect a decision within 24 hours. For big businesses that is a big ask. They want a decision within a reasonable time. Weeks on end can't be taken to be reasonable in any sense.
As for people, Anwar is spot on when he said attitude needs to change. Perhaps there are cases of square pegs in round holes. Country-wide assessment, Public Service Department?
Investors know that Singapore is ranked No. 2 in the world in terms of ease of doing business and Malaysia is a distant 24th.
They are the World Bank report-reading type. But they are not all rushing to the island state to set up business because they know Malaysia has something that Singapore does not. Neither are they rushing here.
A sign that two things need pruning. One is the process and the other, bureaucrats with the wrong attitude.