Azmin, who has already said that Malaysia was being “selective,” said the country cannot afford to accept investments like other countries with larger populations.

Speaking during a question-and-answer session after officiating the Malaysia Prihatin Programme in Shah Alam today, he said Malaysia wanted to attract high-tech investments.

He had said previously that Malaysia had to be “more selective” in accepting foreign investments to reduce dependency on foreign labour.

Azmin also said the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint, announced last month, showed that the government had conditionally approved plans from large cloud service providers, including Microsoft, Google and Amazon.

The government expects these ventures to bring in RM12-RM15 billion in revenue over the next five years.

Azmin was responding to reports that Malaysia was losing out on foreign investments from multinational corporations to neighbouring countries, such as Indonesia, due to its alleged political instability.

Today, he maintained that there was a need to secure more high-quality and high-technology investments to create more value to local industries.

As such, the government placed importance on the development of local human capital and talent to meet the demands of high-tech foreign investors.