The history of the motor vehicle industry in Malaysia began in 1926 when the Ford Motor Company of Malaya was incorpora- ted in Singapore. Ford however did not assemble any vehicle; its main functions were wheel fitment and body touch-up performed by a labour force of 16 workers. Assembly operations at Ford started in 1930 with Canadian-sourced vehicles but these operations were interrupted by the Second World War (Asian Auto, 1976). Following the Japanese surrender, fullscale assembly operat...

The average growth of GDP in Malaysia has been around 5 percent per annum since the early 1960's. With a high per capita income relative to many of her Asian neighbours, a mostly favourable balance of payments and relatively stable prices, Malaysia has often been described as a showpiece of successful economic development (Kasper: 1974; Myint: 1967). More impressive were the annual rates of growth of manufacturing output; averaging 11.9 percent during the 1960's and 12.5 percent during the 19...

The importance of the agricultural sector in the Malaysian economy as shifted in terms of being a major contributor to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and employment in the sixties to that of being the dominant sector in which poverty has persisted. The declining role of the agricultural sector is clearly seen especially in the Fourth Malaysia Plan where it is recorded that the contribution of agriculture to GDP fell from 30.8 percent in 1970 to 22.2 percent a decade later. For the same per...

Agriculture played a pivotal role in the history of economic development in Malaysia. This is best reflected by the significant contribution it makes to the nation's gross domestic product at present more than one-fifth of the total. Although this proportion has declined over the last decade, largely because of the rapid expansion in the manufacturing sector, the contribution of agriculture in absolute terms has grown steadily to M$5.8 billion in 1980. Its importance becomes more manifest if ...