MIDA Calls For Coordinated Investment Strategy To Position Borneo As Investment Hub

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 (Bernama) -- The Invest Borneo action plan should focus on shared value chains, improve cross-border ease of doing business and prioritise investment realisation to strengthen Borneo’s position as an investment hub, according to the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA). 

Its chairman Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said MIDA, through its offices in Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, stands ready to work with Invest Sabah, Invest Sarawak, the Brunei Economic Development Board, Indonesian colleagues and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) to advance the initiative. 

“Borneo is unique. It is the only island in the world shared by three countries. To an investor, that means three sets of rules, three sets of incentives and, since Sabah and Sarawak each have their own investment agencies, at least four separate sales pitches.

“Borneo has never lacked resources or potential. What investors have often lacked is a clear picture of how its parts fit together,” he said in his opening remarks at the Borneo Business Roundtable 2026 today. 

He said Malaysia recorded a historic RM426.7 billion in approved investments in 2025, while Sabah and Sarawak, which account for about 60 per cent of the country’s land area, collectively attracted less than seven per cent of total approved investments last year, representing an untapped investment opportunity for Borneo.

“The momentum is encouraging. In the first half of 2026 alone, Sarawak recorded RM10.8 billion in approved investments (about three quarters of its total for the whole of 2025), while Sabah recorded RM6.8 billion.

“Our cross-border numbers tell a similar story. Trade between Malaysia and Brunei was RM5.86 billion last year. For two close neighbours that share a long border and a common history, there is clearly room to do much more,” he said. 

Tengku Zafrul said that under the ASEAN Regional Investment Promotion Action Plan 2025-2030, ASEAN is positioning itself as a single investment destination across regional value chains, with investment-ready projects presented at the ASEAN Investment Forum in Kuala Lumpur last October.

He said Invest Borneo applied the same approach by leveraging complementary strengths, with Brunei offering downstream industries in methanol and fertiliser, and strength in halal products and Islamic finance; Sarawak providing renewable energy; Sabah contributing oil and gas, agriculture and tourism; and Kalimantan offering opportunities through Nusantara and access to Indonesia’s domestic market. 

Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia is expanding into high-value sectors like semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), and green technology via the New Industrial Master Plan 2030, the National Energy Transition Roadmap and the National Semiconductor Strategy, while strengthening regional digital infrastructure, sustainability and public-private partnerships.

“We are already part of the regional semiconductor and electric vehicle value chains. And we are going strong on data centres,” he said during his keynote address at the Brunei Business Conference 2026 yesterday.

Looking specifically at Brunei and Malaysia, three near-term sectoral opportunities stand out, namely energy transition and green industry, halal and Islamic finance, and digital and AI skills, he said.

“None of this happens by government decree alone. It happens when business leaders pick up the phone, sign the memorandum of understanding and take the first risk,” he said, adding that when “ASEAN prospers, the world follows.”

-- BERNAMA