MALAYSIA'S MULTI-RACIAL SOCIETY DRIVES ECONOMY

By Samantha Tan Chiew Ting KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's multi-racial society and economy offer the world a good lesson on how to further strengthen cooperation, says professor emeritus of the London School of Economics, Prof Meghnad Desai. He told Bernama Saturday that Malaysia could show the world how it managed and preserved its multi-racial society and economy. "Its multi-racial society allows a diverse culture to cooperate and drive the economy," said Desai, who is also the chairman of the advisory board at the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. He said Malaysia has been a fast-growing country even longer than China or India and contributed to the growth of Asia region amid the robust trade and financial systems. On Asia, Desai said, the region was still robust despite facing slowdown amid uncertain economic outlook in the US and Europe. "Intra-Asian trade is growing and there is lot of financial flows. That is where Asia's future is, a region with lots of good potentials. "For example, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and central Asia offer tremendous opportunities " he said. Desai said Asia should not integrate too much. "What the region should practise is to facilitate the entry of outside capital into their borders as well as cooperation between Asian countries," he said. -- BERNAMA