Recently former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad slammed the Malaysian Government for allowing Halliburton Co. to began operation in Malaysia.
His action is based on the fact that Halliburton has been operating in Iraq.
"It is appalling that we have allowed this war-profiteering company to invest in Malaysia," he said in a statement, referring to Halliburton's contracts in Iraq for the U.S. government. "Are we so void of our humanity that we have to allow these war criminals to come in and thrive in our economy?"
Halliburton recently launched a 200 million ringgit ($62.5 million) manufacturing center in the Iskandar Malaysia economic hub in southern Johor state.
Mahathir, a vocal critic of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, accused Halliburton, once led by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, of raking in billions of dollars in profits from the Iraq war.
Mahathir is joined by his son, newly elected MP Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir who questioned the government in Parliament over the investment.
In answering to Mukriz's question, Deputy International and Trade Industry Minister Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan told the Parliament that in 2007, the firm officially declared that it no longer owned the subsidiary involved.
"This is before the Government approved its licence to operate a factor manufacturing equipment for the petroleum and gas sector in Johor.
"The company is considered one of the five biggest and most famous firms involved in this field," he said, adding that Malaysia hoped to promote itself as the hub for the manufacturing of oil and gas equipment.
Mahathir's action in criticising the investment is a little bit dissapointing.
As a leader who has managed to attract billions of ringgit of foreign investment and the benefits that came with it during his time as prime minister, opposing Halliburton's investment in Malaysia now is a little bit bewildering.
If participation in war is a cause for denying its investments in this country, then Malaysia would have banned Rolls Royce, Land Rover, Boeing and Eurocopter from being sold in this country since their equipments have been used the war against Iraq in 1990.
In an era where attracting foreign investments are getting more intense, Halliburton's efforts to open a manufacturing facility should be commended. Their move edges Malaysia's closer it its aspiration towards becoming the region's oil and gas hub.
Just a few kilometres down south, Singapore has positioned itself as the Houston of the East.
Despite not producing a single drop of oil, the country has a comprehensive oil & gas ecosystem in place, including oil majors, drilling contractors, specialized equipment manufacturers, oilfield service providers, and offshore engineering companies.
Today, Singapore is the world leader in the construction of jack-up oil rigs and the conversion of Floating Production Storage and Offloading platforms (FPSOs), with a dominant share of more than 70%. Furthermore, we have the largest base of oil & gas equipment manufacturing companies in Asia, like Schlumberger, making sophisticated products such as downhole tools & equipment, wellheads, christmas trees and drill bits.
