South-South Export of Manufactures as Part of Global Export-Oriented Industrialisation: The Case of Malaysia

During the 1960s Malaysia’s manufacturing industry was gradually transformed; from activities mainly concentrated around tin mining and simple processing of rubber, manufacturing of consumer goods was developed through a moderate import-substitution policy. This trend was strengthened by the collapse of the federation with Singapore in 1965 (inaugurated in 1963), which brought an end to the ‘domestic’ market opportunities for manufacturing industry established in Singapore due to expectations of a wider regional market. Instead of being supplied from the relatively more advanced Singaporean industry, the Malaysian state embarked upon a massive development of its physical and institutional infrastructure to attract industrial investors, foreign as well as domestic.