Depth report

　　

Chi-tung Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Kishan Jasani said Malaysia's chairmanship of ASEAN next year would be crucial in driving regional innovation and digitalisation to further integrate the diverse economies within ASEAN.

He noted that the idea of using a single quick response code for payments and transactions across ASEAN would be a game changer, bringing more convenience to the public without having to carry large amounts of cash when going abroad.

Beyond that, "I foresee and hope that in the future, a company will be able to do an initial public offering in multiple markets in Southeast Asia with just one filing."

Going forward, he said, "a standard common platform that clearly sets out investors' cross-border interests in trade would be a good thing."

In a recent interview with Bernama, he said that to achieve full integration, building trust and transparency among member states were crucial factors as "ASEAN is known to be very opaque in terms of certain trade and investment legislation".

"Policy transparency is the way to build trust," he said as he outlined Malaysia's role as ASEAN chair in 2025, which included encouraging initiatives to achieve greater regional economic unity.

Speaking in Australia recently, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim expressed his confidence in ASEAN's multiplier role in advancing the region's strategic interests, including its progress towards full economic integration.

Kishan also urged digitalization initiatives as they would power ASEAN's growth, just like Africa, which started out without landlines and so went straight to the mobile phone era.

"They now have the highest mobile banking penetration in the world because they didn't bother to build landlines." "Let's go digital and adopt best practices."

Although ASEAN was founded in 1967, accompanied by numerous economic integration initiatives such as the ASEAN Economic Community, economic integration including a true single market like the European Union (EU) appears to be a difficult journey.

Still, the group has huge economic potential. As a trading bloc, ASEAN is the third largest economy in Asia and the fifth largest in the world, and its gross domestic product (GDP) growth has consistently far outpaced global GDP growth. The main reason for the slow progress of full integration is the different levels of economic development of member countries, with countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia at a higher level of development, while Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia are at the other end of the development level. Nevertheless, Kishan praised the group for making progress in many other areas, such as the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), avoiding conflicts within the group and maintaining neutrality and non-alignment despite the difficulties of competing with superpowers. Referring to areas where policy transparency and further integration need to be improved, Kishan lamented that many ASEAN countries "are not transparent in terms of policies that encourage domestic and foreign investment."

He also suggested a common window to facilitate the single declaration of goods, which would be very beneficial, especially in facilitating the transshipment of goods, which goes beyond what is implemented through the ASEAN Customs Declaration Document. For example, shippers from China's global ports can dock in Singapore by simply entering cargo declaration details in one window through a common trade platform, which will eventually also be available to Malaysia or other countries. Even if the goods are then transported overland to Malaysia and via Malaysia, there is no need to apply for two permits, which is a bit like a "regional green channel" for goods transportation. Kishan said another related area that needed improvement was the acceptance of employee qualifications by member states. "Despite having such great talent in ASEAN, member states reject qualified regional employees and prefer to bring in talent from outside the region," he said. At the very least, ASEAN countries should recognise services - such as accounting, information technology, financial services personnel and manufacturing - that member states can use each other for mutual benefit.

However, Mr Kishan said it was fine that accountants and the like needed to be recognised, but as ASEAN citizens there should be some level of preferential treatment. He said ASEAN should strive to follow the example of the Caribbean Community or the European Union by allowing Southeast Asian citizens to have a common passport bearing the ASEAN logo to facilitate and speed up travel in the region. In their efforts to achieve a single entity, ASEAN governments should start encouraging their companies to list on exchanges in Southeast Asia, and not necessarily in London - a move he said would make ASEAN an attractive capital markets destination for everyone.