INDONESIAN Chinese businessmen are keen to tap opportunities in Malaysia's manufacturing, tourism and healthcare sectors- They, however, said there is a lack of information on investment opportunities and incentives that avail for them to enter the local scene- Datuk Seri Dr Tahir, head of a 16-man delegation from Jakarta, said they were pleasantly surprised by the incentives offered by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority- "We found that there are a lot of incentives for businesses with pioneer status," he said at a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur yesterday- Geographical proximity and close government-to-government ties are there, but there is a lack of networking between the business communities, Tahir added- "We have informed the Malaysian government that we shall publicise about Malaysia through our newspapers once a week over the next one year period in areas, such as tourism, investment, healthcare and property-" Many Indonesians in Sumatera prefer Malaysia when it comes to healthcare, but those in eastern Java island choose Singapore- "Many go to Singapore but with its liberalisation measures, costs are rising in the republic- We find the medical standards and facilities in Malaysia are good-" According to Dr Mary Lai Lin, CEO of Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council under the Ministry of Health, 70 per cent of the revenue from foreign visitors seeking medical treatment were from Indonesia- The delegation also met Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia president Tan Sri William Cheng and Permodalan Nasional Bhd chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid- Tahir, who is executive chairman of the Mayapada group, is currently undertaking a feasibility study on developing a boutique hotel in Pulau Tioman- "We're also interested in joint ventures with hospitals in Malaysia to develop comprehensive hospital care for our patients in our hospitals in Indonesia," he said- The Mayapada Group is an Indonesian-based conglomerate, which includes Bank Mayapada and has interests in retail, property and healthcare- International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia has not been engaging with the Indonesian Chinese business community actively until last year- "They are not aware of business and investment policies in Malaysia and the economic transformation programmes-"They think Malaysia is a closed market, controlled by Bumiputeras only, although the manufacturing sector allows for 100 foreign equity," Mustapa said- Many Malaysian companies invest in a big way in Indonesia, especially in the oil palm and banking industry- "They are keen to export pharmaceutical products to Malaysia and also invest in hypermarkets here," Mustapa added- Investments from Indonesia totalled US$250 million (RM762-50 million) while Malaysian investments totalled US$3 billion (RM9-15 billion)-...

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