Economic Activities Between Brunei and Malaysia
By 1980’s, Brunei Darussalam as an oil-producing country is the third largest oil producer in Southeast Asia. Brunei Darussalam’s oil production peaked in 1979 at over 240,000 barrels per day (38,000m3/d). Japan has been the main customer for Brunei Darussalam’s oil exports; other major customers include South Korea, Taiwan, United States and the countries of ASEAN. Whereas Malaysia has established a diverse and quickly-growing manufacturing sector that plays an increasing role in the Malaysian economy. From the late 1970s, United State was the single largest foreign investor and the major investment projects were in the chemical, electronics and electrical industries. The industrial sector also consists of oil refining, machinery assembly, and light industries including foodstuff processing and textile manufacturing. However, the extensive growth of the electrics assembly and electronics sectors in the 1970s and 1980s makes Malaysia an important producer of radios, television sets, stereo equipment, and other related products. In the 1980s, the Malaysian government launched its national automobile project, the locally produced Proton car, and in the late 1980s, Proton is being exported to the international market. Although Malaysian economy has achieved fairly rapid industrialisation since the early 1970s, it continues to remain an export-oriented economy based largely on primary production, with agriculture, forestry and fishing forming the most important productive sector. Tin and petroleum are the major significance in the Malaysian economy. Malaysia was once the world’s largest producer of tin in the 1980s. After that, petroleum and natural gas took over from tin as the mainstay of Malaysian economy. Compare to Brunei Darussalam only main focus on explore and export of oil and gas, Malaysia relatively has a wider area of economic activities. This is because Malaysia is rich in natural resources. Brunei’s agriculture sector is relatively not widely produced if