The thousands of people lining at the immigration desks in the god forsaken 4am is surely a sight that I have never seen in any arrival hall in the world.
Looking at one third of the world’s tower cranes concentrated working on these sky scrappers driven desert: simply amazing, to say the least… This is definitely the Money Magnet of the world!
In the mid of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, I cannot feel any bit of it in this materialistic world of Dubai. The city is still anticipating the opening of the largest retail mall in the world (approximately 40 football fields in total size) at the foot of the yet to be completed tallest building in the world – the iconic Burj Dubai. Of course, there is also the small matter of the grand opening of the Atlantis Dubai at the tip of the manmade island of Palm Jumeirah.
From the outset, I am fearful for the ever expanding bubble but I remain quietly confident that this investment safe heaven will be saved by the oil money that this place is designed for in the first place. The Arabs are after all in the same family of the Jews, all decedents of Abraham.
Personally, I feel that these icons have lost its bit of majestic in a lingering shimmer of the magical Arabian nights. The Ginny is certainly out of the magic lamp; this safe heaven has lost its mystical soul. Close your eyes, the retail malls and restaurants sound like down town Makati; while the rest of the service sectors sound like the entire Indian sub-continent.
The whole concept of Dubai seems familiar and I realised subsequently that this is what I am talking about when I say what Malaysia should be (and has always been) – a real trading hub.
Dubai does not produce anything but they are a market place indeed and in every sense of the word. Dubai is trade facilitating and business facilitating. They do not create; they hire and they make it attractive!
ZERO tax, liberal, high pay, iconic and exciting. They let you earn or make the money and let you retain there as well with attractive real estate of good return. The Ruler certainly does not worry about open up their real estate, they know you cannot take Dubai away, like it or not.
Closer to my heart, iconic buildings and mega projects are certainly synonymous with Malaysia of the 80’s and 90’s. We were also very aggressive, liberal and committed in attracting foreign investment. We were the Money Magnet and the safe heaven that Dubai never was.
There is a certainly a case of a latecomer overcoming the leader; much like the Google’s undoing of the Yahoo in the Searching business.
Is it too late for Malaysia? We are very much similar but we are too fat (too much burden) to capture the imagination that Dubai is now living? In many ways, Dubai learned (well) from Malaysia (iconic plus mega projects) but they are now better. Where do we go from here?
Dubai has no choice as they cannot create but to trade; while Malaysia has too many choices and blessed with both the abilities to create and to trade.
If you stop learning or stand still, you are going down…. Similarly, if you failed to commit to a position or counting your blessings…
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