Jim Rogers on Investing in Malaysia, the century of Asia, & frontier markets

JIM ROGERS : Malaysia has a few things going for it now. It has a government that understands how the world is supposed to work and it is trying to open up so that if people accomplish something they can see the fruits of their labor. They have lots of natural resources, are right in the middle of the region, and speak multiple languages, so Malaysia has a lot going for it. I would not have always said that. I have had criticisms of Malaysia in the past, but at the moment, I have investments in Malaysia for the first time in a long time.

I first came to Malaysia to make investments in 1985, so I have been involved one way or the other for nearly 30 years. At times I have been very pessimistic about Malaysia. At the moment, partly because of the new government, which is taking a very open approach to Malaysia and to the world. This is a government that understands economics better than some governments, has big reserves, has huge national resources, and has a very large agricultural component of their economy, and I am extremely optimistic about agriculture. Malaysia is right here in the middle if ASEAN and I am optimistic about what is happening in ASEAN. They have this neighbor called China as well. They are multicultural, which sometimes has been a negative here, but they have multiple languages. There are a lot of things going on in Malaysia that, for me anyway, means it's time to start thinking about or investing in Malaysia again - and I have by the way, I do have investments in Malaysia which I made about 2-3 years ago because I saw what the new government was trying to do. So I am more optimistic about the future of Malaysia. There are problems everywhere, but there are many reasons to be thinking about investing in Malaysia now. - in zawya.com



Jim Rogers started trading the stock market with $600 in 1968.In 1973 he formed the Quantum Fund with the legendary investor George Soros before retiring, a multi millionaire at the age of 37. Rogers and Soros helped steer the fund to a miraculous 4,200% return over the 10 year span of the fund while the S&P 500 returned just 47%.