Country Heights Holdings Bhd (CHHB) founder and chairman Lee Kim Yew said despite the changes following the 14th general election (GE14), Malaysia remained an attractive location to start a business based on the country’s low capital cost.

“Malaysia is very attractive in terms of property development. To start a business, the capital cost, especially in the property sector, is very important. Regionally, property in Malaysia can still be considered cheap.

“As long as the government continues with policies that favour FDI, I believe the future is good,” Lee said on the sidelines of the Asean Disruptive Leadership Summit (ADLS 2018) here today.

Lee also said skills-based talents had superseded cheap labour as a factor to be considered in making decisions on investments.

“Cheap labour is no longer important. Malaysia must attract talents. Besides (developing it) through our education system, I am happy when the prime minister announced that the government is willing to consider giving citizenship to those with IT expertise,” he said.

He added that some overseas Malaysian talents were willing to return to the country.

Lee also urged the local private sector to take advantage of the nation’s multiculturalism and embrace changes, as well as to persevere and expand their businesses further.

“The private sector must continue to be innovative for further progress. We must embrace technology to connect with the world, use Malaysia as a platform, keep our roots here, and expand regionally and globally,” he said.

A public-listed conglomerate at Bursa Malaysia since 1994, CHHB had combined assets of over US$450 million (RM1.81 billion at present exchange rate) as at Dec 31, 2017.

Besides property development, CHHB had diversified its activities to include healthcare, event planning, education and tourism.

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