Amid the gentle sea breezes, a CommonWealth Magazine reporter stands on the quay of Port Klang, Malaysia, gazing out across the waters of the Strait of Malacca attempting to solve a puzzle: Are free trade zones an effective paradigm for spurring national economic transformation?
In Malaysia, the answer appears to be: Indeed they are.
At present, per capital annual income in Malaysia is less than half that of Taiwan. Yet at the end of last year, Port Klang, Malaysia's largest container port, officially eclipsed Kaohsiung Harbor, Taiwan's biggest port, to become the world's 12th largest container port in terms of cargo handled