Welcoming a New Era of Economic Collaboration between Penang and Indonesia
By Stephen Lai
September 2021 FEATURE
INDONESIA CELEBRATED HER 76th year of independence on August 17 and Malaysia her 64th two weeks later, on August 31. Most expressive of these neighbouring countries᾿ close ties is the relationship that Penang has with its sister city Medan; in fact, Penang has enjoyed close mercantile links for five centuries with Medan and Aceh, and is the second-oldest halal trading port in the world after Rotterdam.As each country recovers from the recession of 2020 (Malaysia and Indonesia registered negative GDP...
Stephen Lai
Penang-based Stephen Lai is an international business and start-up consultant who spent over 30 years abroad in the US and Singapore. He has a varied career as founder of a few technology start-ups, the ASEAN Rubber Conference and is an investment manager and consultant to government agencies in Singapore, Shenzhen and Malaysia. He is currently CEO of SEED Penang, promoting social entrepreneurship and social enterprise development.
