Thai businesses in Malaysia have expressed confidence in the country's anticipated government under the leadership of Mahathir Mohamad, who vowed to stop the introduction of unnecessary taxes, increase transparency in government spending and stamp out corruption.
Yeap Swee Chuan, president and chief executive of Aapico and chairman of the Malaysian-Thai Chamber of Commerce, wants the expected government under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to be more "aggressive" in terms of their trade and investment policies, which he expects it to be.
"The previous administration had focused on other internal issues," he told the Bangkok Post. "The [anticipated] government does not have any legacy. They have to change quickly because the people gave them a mandate and they want improvements now."
Mr Chuan said the anticipated government's first priority should be to "clean house" and form a "good cabinet" with a higher salaries -- up to five times more -- to prevent corruption, similar to the Singaporean model.
"The ringgit is too weak and with good reason. [Dr Mahathir] is old but I think he works very fast and I have plenty of confidence that he will do a good job," he said.
Douglas Martell, president and chief executive of ONYX Hospitality Group, similarly expressed confidence in the anticipated government, bolstering hopes for new investment.
"Our commitment toward Malaysia is for the long term. We will continue to foster long-lasting relationships with like-minded partners, existing and new, with the aim of further expanding our portfolio [there]," he said.
Mr Chuan said that even though it is too early to tell, he expects more investment from the anticipated government because the election has shown a majority voting for change in the big cities, signalling that businessmen and other citizens view the potential for change as "very positive".
"If everybody is positive, I think the foreign investment will be positive as well. Also if the country is better organised, businessman from Malaysia will have more incentives to go abroad. So I think good things will happen," he said.
Previndran Singhe, founder and group chief executive of Zerin Properties in Kuala Lumpur, said there is "a sense of positivity" regarding the overall victory of the PH coalition, showing that Malaysia "is a good democratic country and that the system works".
He also said his company is committed to expanding its footprint in the country and he personally expects the overall business and market sentiment to be positive in response.
"We do anticipate bullish sentiment in the capital markets as investors see the mandate for Dr Mahathir as a clear sign to return Malaysia to its status as one of the roaring Southeast Asian Tigers," he said.
Malaysia's national stock exchange, Bursa Malaysia, was closed yesterday and today, while experts expect the country's stock market to be more volatile following PH's shocking victory.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index climbed 18.31 points or 1% to finish at 1,846.51 after trading between 1,819.28 and 1,851.73 on Wednesday, ending the four-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 40 points or 2.4% before the election.
Aninda Mitra, senior sovereign analyst at BNY Mellon Investment Management, told CNBC yesterday "near-term policy uncertainty will be high" while Aarti Shah, chief information officer at Eli Lilly, told Bloomberg "we cannot rule out" rising interest levels for foreign investors anticipating change.
Mr Chuan said Malaysia has to repair its image, which has been tarnished by the 1MDB scandal. Corruption was one issue Dr Mahathir identified as a top priority for the PH coalition to address.
Dr Mahathir also aims to reduce the cost of living in Malaysia, having vowed to stop an unnecessary hike in the tax burden and to slow down government borrowing.
"To render the economy more stable, there will be no introduction of taxes that are not necessary," he said. "The management of government funding must be done properly and there will be less corruption, reversing the trend that you see now, where government borrowing has reached 1 trillion ringgit (8.11 trillion baht)."
Dr Mahathir has also expressed concern over the ringgit's stability as it could affect trade with neighbouring states.
"One of the things that enable good cross-border trade is a currency's stability," he said. "If the ringgit is made more stable, I think trade will increase."