Will Singapore steal the show from Malaysia again?

This time it is in something which Malaysia has considered itself as having the advantage compared to its neighbour down south - the brotherhood of Islam. Singapore seems intent on courting the Middle Eastern countries to use Singapore as the launchpad for their investment linked activities in the region. This includes positioning of Singapore as the region's center for Islamic finance. So far the effort has been marked by various high level diplomatic visits between Singapore and various Middle Eastern countries, as well as efforts in creating the right economic environment. This also included free trade agreements between the countries. This is all the more ironic considering that Singapore has diplomatic ties with Israel, which includes military cooperation. Check out this article in Asia Times Online for more information.

As with a lot of ideas and initiatives, Malaysia almost always is the first one in the region to have them. But time and again we seem to fail miserably when it comes to execution, and Singapore has almost always been able to latch onto the idea, execute it well, carry it further, and leave Malaysia scratching its head. And this time I think it would be no different. Malaysia's effort in trying to be the regional hub for Islamic finance as well as being the launchpad for Middle Eastern investment in this region may simply not be enough if it thinks it can rely on the goodwill of Islamic ummah. At the end of the day, the Middle Eastern businessmen are no different from the other businessmen of the world, and they will make their decisions - in typical business-like fashion.