SINGAPORE, Thursday 5 August 2010 (Bernama) -- The "wait-and-see" attitude among Singapore businessmen to invest in Malaysia is over, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

He said Singaporean companies now had shown keen interest to invest in the country particularly in Johor's Iskandar Malaysia Development area.

Speaking at a media conference here today, Mustapa said there was a flurry of visits by 88 Singapore companies to Iskandar Malaysia recently soon after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak visited the city-state in May.

He said it made good sense for Singapore companies, which have been investing in far-flung territories all this while, to invest in Malaysia as both countries had many synergies.

Meanwhile, Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) Chief Executive Officer Ismail Ibrahim said out of the RM741 million manufacturing projects invested in Iskandar Malaysia in the first five months of this year, RM221 million originated from Singapore.

Singapore companies operating in Johor currently provide employment to some 100,000 people.

Earlier, speaking at a business seminar and dialogue session with about 300 Singapore businessmen, Mustapa described 2010 as a "year of planning" or "engagement" where not much took place in the business relations between the countries.

But, he hoped 2011 would be a "year of action" where a lot more trade and investment from Singapore would enter Malaysia as bonds between the two closest neighbouring countries grew stronger by the day.

Mustapa, who earlier met members of the Singapore Business Federation, also said both countries finally decided to reactivate the Malaysia-Singapore Business Council, which has remained dormant for years, to further boost bilateral trade relations.

He also said there was a plan to set up a unit or team designed especially to systematically assist and handle small-and-medium enterprises from Singapore that were keen to invest in Iskandar Malaysia so that they were not left out in the rush to come to Johor.

The unit is expected to comprise officials from Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), IRDA, SME Corporation and other related agencies and associations.

Mustapa also told Singapore investors not to worry about crime in Malaysia especially in Johor as street crime had dropped 29.6% and the overall crime index was slipped 51.1%.

Johor Police Chief Datuk Mokhtar Shariff, who was also present at the seminar, assured the approximate 80,000 Singaporean visitors and businessmen visiting Johor daily, that the southern state was now safe and secured.

He said they should "erase the fear of crime" as the police force had been greatly beefed up and well-equipped with the latest state-of-the-art technology to fight crime in the state.

Mohktar said Johor police even had set up a 1Malaysia police team comprising Malay, Chinese and Indian senior police officers to handle crime in the state and also another formation to specially handle foreign investors in trouble.

Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang, who also spoke at the seminar, said business linkages between the two countries had traditionally been strong and were set to grow even stronger.

He said in the first six months of 2010, bilateral trade rebounded strongly in tandem with the global economic recovery to reach S$52 billion.

This was an increase of almost 36% over the same period last year, he said, adding that investment linkages were similarly robust. MIDA's figures showed that Singapore was the largest investor in Malaysia for the first four months of this year, contributing RM1.79 billion worth of manufacturing-related investments. (By ZAKARIA ABDUL WAHAB/Bernama)