Singapore Conference

WB LAND SPEECH FOR SINGAPORE CONFERENCE â€" 6th December 2014


Full house event! More than 140 personnel attended, doubling our estimate.

Good afternoon and a warm welcome to a very special conference held for SMEs.

Thank you for being with us this Friday afternoon where we exchange valuable insights about regionalising your business. In this particular conference, experts from various agencies and organisations will be sharing with everyone on expanding into Malaysia.

I must say the push for integration in this region of ours has been very encouraging. The goal of achieving economic community by end of next year was the top agenda at the recent ASEAN summit in Myanmar. By leveraging on each neighbouring country’s strength, we can expect a more sustainable and globally competitive region.


Mr Ng Chun Kai of SME Centre@ SMF sharing on grants and other assistance programme offered by the government.

Malaysia-Singapore Cooperation seen recently is a testament of our governments’ political maturity. Only in October this year, Malaysia and Singapore have resolved the rail land tax issue amicably, under the ruling by Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.

Malaysia is assuming the ASEAN chair next year and we are heeding the call for action towards a more integrated region. We are optimistic that great change is coming. If we have seen how EU has transformed Europe, then the future of the ASEAN economic community is bright.

We are further encouraged by the recent uptick in investments by foreign companies into Malaysia, especially Johor. Johor was the top destination with RM14.4 billion investments in the manufacturing sector last year.

Motivation behind this inflow has been the lower operational, labour and land cost. Malaysia has even claimed the number 1 manufacturing location, in a study by US-based Cushman and Wakefield this year.

A lot has to do with the favourable business eco-system such as foreigners’ ability to 100% own freehold properties, protection of legal rights, and attractive incentives bestowed on foreign companies.

We see this trend continuing as the region’s economic integration kicks into high gear and policies will continue to favour cross-border investments.


Registration was a breeze, handled by SLP International

Before I end, let me share a brief history about what we do. We started off as Woon Brothers Construction 38 years ago in Johor.

We were involved with prominent landmarks such as JPO, Medini, Johor Port, and AEON Bukit Indah.We were able to obtain such strong portfolios thanks to our strong track-record of delivering ahead of schedule for almost four decades.

We were honoured that Johor’s Chief Minister launched Frontier in July and recognised that we have done Johor proud by winning the “Five-Star Best-in-Malaysia” award for industrial development at the recent Asia Pacific Property Awards 2014.

Before I sign off, I would like to express our gratitude to our distinguished speakers for their support in this conference. They are experts in their own fields and I am sure everyone will leave here better informed on regionalising their business.

Also, to our co-organiser, SLP International, for their commitment in providing an informative session and successfully organising this conference.

Thank you.