Malaysian PM Anwar seeks to revive idea of Asian Monetary Fund

Malaysia PM Anwar Ibrahim suggested including countries such as China, Japan and South Korea in the AMF. PHOTO: AFP

BANGKOK - Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has proposed reviving the idea of an Asian Monetary Fund (AMF) which he said could create a buffer against economic crises in the region.

In his keynote speech at the Future of Asean lecture organised by the Malaysian-Thai Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok on Friday, Datuk Seri Anwar said the AMF would benefit the region immensely, and suggested that it includes countries such as China, Japan and South Korea.

“We cannot have the international infrastructure being decided by outsiders. We can work with them but we should have our own domestic, regional and Asian strength, not necessarily to compete but to have a buffer zone (against economic crises),” he was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.

The AMF was first mooted by Japan in 1997 during the early stages of the Asian financial crisis when countries, including Indonesia and Thailand, ran into difficulties seeking bailouts. The concept of the AMF was to create a network backed by Asian funds to tackle current and future economic crisis.

But the idea failed to take off due to resistance from some Asian countries and the Group of Seven out of fears that the AMF could erode the role of the International Monetary Fund and cause a split between Asia and North America.

Mr Anwar also said Asean nations should stop competing with one another and collaborate instead for mutual economic benefits, Bernama reported.

Using the example of the automotive industry, he said there was competition among Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in the last century to build cars due to one another’s “fierce independence and protectionist policies of the 1990s”.

“It is a better approach that each country focus on a single type of vehicle. For instance, Malaysia could have built cars while Indonesia and Thailand would focus on buses and trucks,” he said.

He also proposed that each country focus on its specialty and provide those products for the other Asean member states.

Mr Anwar met his Thai counterpart Prayut Chan-o-cha on Thursday. The two-day visit to Thailand is the Malaysian leader’s first to Thailand as prime minister.

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