ANWAR IBRAHIM has been Malaysia's prime minister in waiting for decades, only to repeatedly have the rug pulled out from under him. Twice since 1998, the government has jailed him on sodomy charges (trumped up by rivals, Anwar says); in all, he spent 10 years in prison.
It was other people's financial crimes that helped bring him to power. Anwar and Malaysia's longtime leader Mahathir Mohamad reconciled a few years ago in order to clean house after the notorious 1MDB scandal, in which investigations revealed that Malaysia's leaders had been looting a major sovereign wealth fund for personal gain. Last year, Anwar-who ran on an anticorruption platform-finally became prime minister after a snap election that gave no party a majority.
Foreign investment is high on his agenda. Malaysia is no stranger to high-tech manufacturing: The country was home to Intel's first overseas plant, back in 1972. But the 1MDB controversy and what Anwar recently decried as "a lack of competitiveness" had kept other companies away. The prime minister is now wooing multinationals with promises of ethical government and less bureaucracy. He's already won multibillion-dollar commitments from companies including German chipmaker Infineon and Chinese giants Rongsheng Petrochemical and automaker Geely.
Anwar's most famous new partner? Elon Musk. Tesla and Starlink, the SpaceX-owned satellite internet provider, both began operating in Malaysia in July. To attract them, Anwar exempted the companies from rules that require foreign ventures to include ownership by Malaysia's bumiputera, primarily the country's Malay majority. (Critics, including Anwar, say these rules benefit well-connected Malays while doing little to ease inequality.) Tesla is now selling cars directly in Malaysia, without a domestic partner, and SpaceX is keeping full control of Starlink in the country.
Denne historien er fra October - November 2023-utgaven av Fortune US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra October - November 2023-utgaven av Fortune US.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
THE NEW GOLD RUSH
Gold prices have soared amid global uncertainty and a central-bank-driven buying spree. But this time, the gold mining industry looks very different.
A New Season for Giving
As the PGA TOUR kicks off its 2025 season alongside its sponsors in Hawai'i, the organization is continuing to make an impact in local communities.
WELCOME TO ELONTOWN, USA
The small town of Bastrop, Texas (pop. 12,000), has become a home base for Elon Musk's business empire. What comes next is anyone's guess.
100 MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE
Our inaugural, authoritative ranking of the leaders whose innovation and impact have elevated them to the top of the business world.
ARE CEO SABBATICALS THE ULTIMATE POWER MOVE?
WHEN VENTURE capitalist Jeremy Liew and his wife were dating, they talked about how one day they would take a year to travel the world. \"That's how we'd know we'd made it,\" Liew says.
WHAT ARE THE BEST METRICS FOR MEASURING A STARTUP'S POTENTIAL?
IN HIS 2012 ESSAY \"Startup = Growth,\" Paul Graham talks about a 5% to 7% weekly growth rate as table stakes for startup success. If you're growing 10%, he says, you're doing \"exceptionally well.\"
TECH POLYMARKET'S ELECTION ACCURACY MADE SHAYNE COPLAN A STAR-BUT AN FBI RAID POINTS TO TROUBLE AHEAD
IN NOVEMBER, Shayne Coplan had a week he'll remember for the rest of his life: He got a phone call from the highest echelons at Mar-a-Lago. He went on TV for the first time. And his New York City apartment was raided by the FBI.
WHY BIG TECH IS THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY'S NEW BEST FRIEND
OVER THE PAST several years, Big Tech firms like Google and Microsoft have trumpeted ambitious plans to go carbon-neutral, or even carbon-negative, by 2030. But then the generative-AI boom came along and threw a giant wrench in their plans.
WHAT PALMER LUCKEY, THE MAN REVOLUTIONIZING WARFARE, IS AFRAID OF
PALMER LUCKEY, the founder of the $14 billion Al-powered weapons startup Anduril, has become the face of change in the defense industry.
GLOBAL BUSINESS BRACES FOR TRUMP 2.0
AROUND THE WORLD in 2024, voters chose change: in South Africa, France, Britain, and Japan. But nowhere does the anti-incumbent trend matter more than in the United States.
