- 3 hours ago
RM68 billion in approved JS-SEZ investments.
But 81.4% of Johoreans surveyed say their support depends on jobs — and 64% still don’t fully understand what the SEZ means for them.
So where is the disconnect?
On Niaga Spotlight, Tehmina Kaoosji speaks to See Toh Wai Yu, CEO of Central Force, on their newly released public sentiment study on how the JS-SEZ can translate investment momentum into real outcomes: jobs, housing, and cost-of-living relief at a time of rising global uncertainty.
But 81.4% of Johoreans surveyed say their support depends on jobs — and 64% still don’t fully understand what the SEZ means for them.
So where is the disconnect?
On Niaga Spotlight, Tehmina Kaoosji speaks to See Toh Wai Yu, CEO of Central Force, on their newly released public sentiment study on how the JS-SEZ can translate investment momentum into real outcomes: jobs, housing, and cost-of-living relief at a time of rising global uncertainty.
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NewsTranscript
00:08Hello and welcome to Nyaga Spotlight with me Tamina Kaosji. Nyaga Spotlight takes us through
00:13the week in economic analysis and future affairs. Today on analysis, our spotlight is on JSSEZ,
00:20investment versus public confidence. So the Johor Singapore special economic zone has already drawn
00:27at least 68 billion ringgit in approved investments, with the state pulling in over 110 billion ringgit
00:34in total inflows last year alone. But this rollout is happening at a fragile moment globally. Rising
00:42geopolitical tensions with the continued U.S.-Israel war on Iran is pushing energy prices higher and
00:49that pressure is already feeding into inflation across trade-dependent economies like ours.
00:55So the question moves beyond attracting capital and investment. It is whether that growth is
01:02sustainable and perhaps even more importantly, whether it reaches people on the ground. New data
01:09is showing that Johorians are not sold on the JSSEZ promise, yet support hinges around jobs, housing and
01:18cost of living. So can the JSSEZ deliver real economic security? Joining us now in the studios for this
01:25most interesting discussion is Cito Waiyu, Chief Executive Officer with Central Force International,
01:32which recently released their new public sentiment study on the JSSEZ. Waiyu, a very good morning.
01:39Thank you so much for making time to join us in the studios. How are you doing today?
01:42Thanks for having me. I'm doing very well.
01:43All right. Amazing. So Waiyu, let's get started off by, of course, telling us a little bit more
01:49about this impact study and survey which Central Force International recently concluded.
01:56So we did a state sentiment study amongst Johor. We interviewed Johorians around the entire
02:05state itself across different districts. And we did it through a telephone survey of about 500
02:10people. And we asked them about their views. Were they aware about the JSSEZ?
02:16How they felt? What are the things that they're looking forward to? And what are the hopes and
02:20sort of dreams that they wanted from this development from the government? And how this will also impact
02:25their lives and their livelihood?
02:27Interesting. So I think it's very timely as well, because it's been almost a year since the official
02:32launch occurred around JSSEZ. But some interesting data points that came out from there,
02:38it shows that there is a lot of strong headline support. But at the same time, basically,
02:44it is based around whether or not people are foreseeing that there will be jobs available,
02:51and also whether housing will stay stable. So based on your modelling, what kind of feedback
02:58are you presuming that if even one of these conditions is not really going to turn out as a positive,
03:06what might public sentiment shift to then?
03:09So our model doesn't show that support and trust will just collapse overnight.
03:15Support is built, it's something that needs to be generated and something that needs to be
03:21developed over time. So it depends on what are the early signals that comes from the SEZ.
03:26If signals are good and promising, then support will form. But likewise, if early signals start
03:32to show that it's a cause of concern, that things aren't going how the public wants it to go,
03:38then of course, dissatisfaction will grow towards it. So I guess those are the early signals that
03:43will heavily impact how support will generate for the SEZ over time.
03:47Absolutely. Now, one thing of course, which really matters every time of the year, but particularly during
03:54times when globally, socioeconomic uncertainty is growing, is jobs. Let's talk about what types of job
04:02people are actually imagining when it comes to job creation being mentioned. Is it more technical?
04:10What is the actual perception when you asked?
04:12So that was interesting. In one of the chapters that we conducted in our study,
04:16was that we queried the Johorians of the state and we checked on their workforce readiness.
04:23We asked them about stuff about AI readiness. We asked them about their ability to repair basic tech.
04:31We asked them about their fluency with office essentials. And most crucially, we asked them about
04:39their willingness to learn. And from these aspects that we queried and we checked on, we were able to
04:44develop five kinds of personas on workforce readiness. And what we found was that we have
04:51the all-rounders, which makes out about a quarter, about 25% of the Johorian population were all-rounders.
04:57And what this means was that they marked high on every factor that we checked on. And when we asked
05:02them and compared about their minimum salary expectations, they were looking for about RM4,000 and above.
05:09So it makes sense because they are all-rounders. They have all the skill sets needed. So they request for
05:14a
05:14higher minimum salary. But if you look at sort of the corresponding skill sets. So we have personas
05:21like the digital pro who are high on everything, but maybe not so good in fixing basic tech. So then
05:27they will request for about 3,008, 3,007, so on and so forth, according to the skill set that
05:32they have.
05:32But what was interesting that we found was that there was a category of the personas whom we called the
05:38strugglers. And the strugglers were the people who scored low on everything.
05:43And the strugglers, did you have a percentile on how many percentage of respondents?
05:47So they were about 19% of the Johorian.
05:50Not insignificant either?
05:52Not insignificant, no. But what was interesting was that they actually expected a higher salary from almost everyone else.
05:58So they were looking at an expected salary of 3,800, despite having a minimal skill set.
06:04Lower overall skills.
06:04Yeah.
06:05Ah, I see. Was there an age category that these respondents who were overall low on skills came from?
06:12No. So we surveyed respondents throughout the state, interviewing anybody from 18 years old and above.
06:20Right.
06:20And we found no significance when we looked across race, gender or age.
06:25Understood. So I think it's overall kind of promising, but at the same time, more attention
06:31needs to be paid perhaps to local upskilling to ensure that it's aligned with the type of
06:36high-skilled jobs which are probably going to come in.
06:41Waiyu, moving into looking at housing. So around 70.1% of those surveyed, they actually flag
06:48affordable housing as a key factor in whether or not they would be able to support the JSSEZ outcome.
06:59But at the same time, it's going to be a leading presence when it comes to acceptance by the public.
07:06Some thoughts on this?
07:07So we see it as an early signal. It's not yet a crisis.
07:13Okay. Early days.
07:14Early days, yeah. But we treat it as a form of price sensitivity.
07:18Right. So they're showing signs that any small movements in the pricing of the housing market
07:24can have an outsized effect on how they perceive the impact towards the SEZ.
07:31So we're already looking at property prices that are starting from $300,000 to $400,000 for a very small
07:37home
07:38in JB. And this is barely affordable for most Malaysians, in fact.
07:43Right. But I think what's good was that we've noticed that the Johor state government has
07:47already implemented, I believe it was called Rumah Mampu Milik Johor, RMMJ.
07:53That's right.
07:53Yeah. Which targets about, I think, 30,000 homes at under $300,000.
07:57And this is a step in the right direction, right? And it shows that alignment between the public
08:02expectations and what the government is doing in reality is aligned and is matched. And this is
08:07a right step moving forward.
08:08Exactly. Because, of course, it's important to identify early on enough that it doesn't become
08:14an actual pressure in the housing market. Because $300,000 for something which is specifically small
08:20in a land-rich state like Johor would be of concern.
08:23All right. Let's now dig deeper, Wahyu, into that 64% awareness gap that came out, which is a little
08:32surprising. And tell us a little bit more about who exactly is being left behind. And is this more
08:39of a demographic from a specific area? Or is it geographically based, based on their own location
08:46within the Johor state itself?
08:48So, our data found that the awareness gap applies throughout. There was no significant standout between
08:55race, age, or gender. But what we did find was that there was geographical variance.
09:00So, in places or locations where development from the SEZ are quite apparent, so places like Tanjung
09:07Pi, places like Johor Bahru, these are the locations that were very high in awareness for the SEZ by the
09:14public.
09:14And these are the places also where the JB were looking at different development types like the
09:21Forest City and Special Economic Zone, for example. So, these are all grey and aligned. But what was
09:26interesting actually was that we found that the JSSEZ awareness was also correlated with support.
09:33So, when people are more aware, when they understand and they know about what's happening
09:38with their beloved home, then support grows with it in tandem. So, efforts has to be made on
09:45communications to make sure that everybody is aware of what's going to happen. And similarly to how we
09:49run an organisation, right? We need to make sure that our team, our staff are all aware about future
09:53directions so that we can all move a line in one direction.
09:56Yes, exactly. Because what appears to be potential to why the issue of about 64% are not aware,
10:05because naturally, development, construction and other day-to-day activities and hub and bus
10:12only occurs in certain specific areas. It is not spread out evenly across the state. So, it also points to
10:20the
10:20fact that strategically, maybe public communication can be strengthened because then you're not just
10:26leaning on incidental awareness. Because let's say people who drive by a construction site that has,
10:33you know, big banners and big banners telling you that it is specifically meant for JSSEZ.
10:41Right. So, moving into looking at those who were neutral and were not really concerned
10:49in so far about the developments. Some thoughts on those target market.
10:55So, we have quite a chunk of the respondents who actually said don't know when we asked them
11:02about what do you feel and what do you think about the SEZ. And I think it made up about
11:0640%
11:07of our overall sample. We don't treat, in this particular case, we don't treat don't know as neutral.
11:14We look at it more about not having an opinion formed yet.
11:19Okay.
11:19Right. And I think because it's still in the very early days of the SEZ, right. The government
11:25announced it last year and we're still waiting for more developments to really be visible, right.
11:31We need to see tangible outcomes that occur from the SEZ for us to really shape and form an opinion.
11:36So, we're hoping for early signs. And if the early signs are good, it's showing that we are able to
11:42bring down maybe the cost of living or we're able to provide more jobs or have better salaries.
11:47Then I think those are all good early signs for us to form an opinion and particularly form a
11:52supportive opinion about the SEZ.
11:54And the supportive opinion naturally is going to come when that cost of living narrative gets out there.
12:00Because so far, we're hearing those investment heavy numbers, which are very favourable and is
12:05going to lead to a lot more DDI as well. But at the same time, for the locals themselves,
12:10they need to be hearing a little bit more. Do you feel that when the, what is the biggest
12:16disconnect between how the policy makers are framing the SEZ and how perhaps Johorian households
12:22are actually experiencing the economy?
12:26That's a tough one. So, when we look at the study for this, we did get a chunk of the
12:33population who
12:33expressed that cost of living is a concern, right. So, when we talk about the economy, I think generally
12:39for your typical Malaysian, your average Malaysian, what's going to matter most is whether or not I can
12:45put food on the table, whether I can pay rent for the next month. But what's interesting was that
12:51the cost of living pressures is not unique to Johor alone. When we do our studies and our data from
12:57the rest of the country, cost of living pressure is actually one of the top concerns across almost
13:02every state in the country. And this matters a lot because despite all the efforts and initiatives
13:07that the government talks about, if I can't survive today, and if I'm still struggling today,
13:13it's very difficult for me to care and worry about what initiatives the government is planning.
13:19Clearly so. Thanks very much for the conversation so far, Y.U. We take a quick break. Don't go anywhere.
13:24We'll be right back with the rest of the interview after this.
13:43Welcome back to Niagara Spotlight. Still with me, Tamina Kausji. And today, of course,
13:46our focus is on the JSSEZ, the Johor Singapore Special Economic Zone, and looking at investment
13:53versus public sentiment, public confidence, with Y.U. in the studios. I'm CEO of Central Force
13:59International. So, Y.U., going straight back into the conversation, let's look at district-level
14:06divergence. Because another interesting factor is that your team actually spoke to people across the
14:12different districts. And tell us about, does it look like there is a sentiment around a singularity
14:20for the SEZ, or are there multiple expectations out there?
14:24So, we surveyed Johorians across the entire state, right? So, we're looking at people who answered on behalf of
14:32MUAR on behalf of Johor Baru, Tanjung PI, Pengerang, and all these different districts and locations
14:38across Johor. What we did find at the end of the day was that it's very important to manage expectations.
14:45For example, if you look at the case of Johor Baru, the respondents who answered on behalf of Johor
14:50Baru, they were coming from the perspective of how would the SEZ impact my current livelihood?
14:58What are the amenities? What are the infrastructure? What are the facilities that's already available
15:03in Johor Baru itself? And I will use that as a basis to expect the development to move into.
15:11So, in that sort of situation, the people of JB were preferring innovation centers, they were
15:17preferring industrial parks over other development types. And I think what the government has in plan
15:22for the SEZ was that they were looking at global service hubs, they were looking at chemical
15:27manufacturing, they were looking at forest city special zone, which is somewhat aligned,
15:31right? It's somewhat aligned with what the people are actually looking for, which is a good thing.
15:34I think the fear here that we have to be careful about is when there is a misalignment between
15:41what the people expect. Because what the people expect is based on what is lacking in the location
15:47that they are in, right? And this could be things to do with tourism, it could be things to do
15:51with
15:51housing projects and stuff like that, right? And if the alignment is mismatched, the government in a
15:57way is not providing what the people wants. And then this would cause a concern for potential
16:03dissatisfaction or probably being a bit over critical over government initiatives and efforts.
16:08But it also does seem that from the plans which are publicly available, tourism zones are also being
16:15developed in areas with pre-existing services. So it's just about aligning it and making it a bit
16:21more streamlined, right? Let's move into looking at awareness versus acceptance. And what in your
16:30data shows that those who understand the SEZ are more supportive, while those who don't remain
16:37neutral but a little bit more unsure. So what do you feel was that pivotal moment where it shifts
16:44into conversion, into support? So I think what's very important to understand is that, and this is
16:50generally across all forms of market research, is that awareness does not guarantee support.
16:56Support and trust is something that has to be built over time, right? You need to allow people to
17:02see visibly tangible outcomes that will allow them to provide their support and agreement towards what
17:08they are seeing. So if people are actually able to see that there are new housing being developed that
17:13I can now finally afford, right? If I can find jobs that are better able to pay me a livable
17:19salary,
17:20these are all tangible outcomes that will provide the support for the initiatives. But I think what we
17:27have to be careful about is for the people who are standing on the fence, right, or people who don't
17:32know what to feel, what to think, without seeing such tangible outcomes, these are the people who might
17:38sway differently and they might bring down the overall curve in terms of support and dissatisfaction.
17:45What would you say were some maybe specific trigger points in terms of were there policy
17:51announcements or any visible infrastructure that typically would shift people from awareness into
17:57a more supportive mindset? So our report covers both sides of the coin. So we look at the support
18:05conditions for the SEZ and I mentioned this earlier but these are primarily to do with availability of jobs,
18:12affordable housing and also interestingly better infrastructure for traffic. Traffic seems to be a
18:19huge concern amongst the public in Johor. So these are all the support conditions but we also have
18:24the conditions that would yield negative support, right, and these are things to do with of course the
18:31vice versa of what I just mentioned but there were other things such as changes in the government,
18:36there were things such as environmental pollution that were actually causes of concern amongst the public
18:42for this initiative. And also consequently one can also posit that, say for example,
18:49if housing supply tightens before wages rise, that could also cause an immediate tension too.
18:55So moving into looking at how quickly the JSSEZ has been attracting a lot of investments,
19:03of course there's a portion that has been confirmed which is about 68 billion with about 110 billion or so
19:09in total. So moving on that, when we say and we look at the fact that this is significant still
19:17though,
19:18is public trust building at the same pace as these capital inflows which are coming in
19:24on a more top macro level? I think it is always going to be the case where capital flows faster
19:32than
19:32trust can build. Trust takes a lot of time. We need time for trust to form, we need to be
19:40consistent
19:41about the message that we are providing to the public and we also need a lot of transparency for
19:48trust to develop, right. So I think based on our data it's evident that trust is still forming. We have
19:55a
19:55huge chunk of respondents who are still very unsure about the whole situation, about the initiatives
20:01and they don't know what to expect yet. So trust isn't deeply anchored yet at the moment.
20:07Our thoughts were that if a portion, a small portion of that 37 billion ringgit capital that's
20:14being funded into this, if a small portion of it can go into communication, it would definitely increase
20:19the awareness gap amongst the public and awareness will in turn correlate with support and trust that
20:25comes with it. I just wanted to pick your brain a little because given Central Force's vast experience
20:31in this, what kind of public communication or information strategies perhaps that you have seen
20:37in other somewhat similar arenas have really been successful when the time, attention and of course
20:44associated budget was paid to it. So we have to accept the fact that sources of information
20:52has significantly shifted compared to the previous era to today. Or even three years ago.
20:58Or even three years ago. Right, we don't have to talk about 10, 15. Exactly. And when we survey,
21:03particularly in this study with the Johorians, we asked a question about which platform would you
21:09obtain your source of information from and we get close to 70% who says social media.
21:14Right. So we can tell that social media is a very huge chunk of where people
21:20collects or receives information about anything. And we already asked, the question was specifically
21:25structured in a way where which platform would you go to to receive information from government
21:31officials. And 70% say social media, only 10 plus percent said from the actual government news portals.
21:39Yes. Right. So there you go. So that's already telling me you need a one-stop
21:43click shop. Yes.
21:45That's maybe on, it could be on TikTok, could be on Instagram, could be somewhere where
21:49that visibility is there for the target market. Exactly.
21:52Yeah. Okay. So let's go into then sequencing. So what really should come first? So you've emphasized
22:02looking at sequencing and based on this data, what has to be delivered first and foremost,
22:07if we're talking about anchoring confidence for the public in the time to come. It's almost one year
22:14in, let's say for the next year to come. And by which the end of which in early 2027, you're
22:21likely
22:22going to see a lot of JSSEZ related projects coming to life, open for operation.
22:29Sequencing matters a lot, more so than what people seem to understand. Because for impact to truly be
22:36felt, they need to be able to be in a position where they can receive that impact.
22:42The benefits. The benefits. The jobs maybe.
22:44Exactly. Yes. So within the next year or so, the first thing that should come in should be the
22:50availability of jobs. For the locals. For the locals. Yes, for the locals. So locals should be able to
22:55start having jobs that are probably higher income, right? Or for those who are unemployed, which in our
23:02data is about 2.7%, they should still be able to find jobs already in this period of time.
23:08Once they do have better paying jobs or have jobs in the first place, that's when they will have the
23:13income to ease cost of living pressures. They will have the income to buy homes. And then that's where
23:18they will truly feel and appreciate the impact of the SEZ. But if it happens the other way around,
23:25if housing comes first, if development comes first, but not the jobs, then even though all these benefits
23:30are there in my vicinity, I don't have the capability or the position. The gap perception increases,
23:37right? Correct. Because then you have a majority of people perhaps just passing by and thinking,
23:42well, on my current salary, I can't afford that. Exactly. Yes. Okay, brilliantly put. So moving into
23:48landing out our discussion. So you've also said that, you know, there is a fragility of sentiment
23:55sentiment under external shocks. And that is definitely a reality as the West Asia conflict
24:02persists up to its fourth week. So in a scenario of rising inflation or even global disruption,
24:09how quickly could sentiments flip? And how important is it for, you know, the state administration to take
24:18this little window of opportunity to really communicate better and stronger?
24:23So I guess the main fear here is amongst the people who are unaware and amongst the people who are
24:28sitting on the fence. Because without truly understanding what this initiative is going to
24:34do and how it's going to benefit you, it will be difficult for this chunk of the population to
24:40disassociate what are the factors or the effects of the initiative versus global events such as the
24:47impending petrol prices hike and such and so on and so forth. So if I can't disassociate and
24:53differentiate between these two, it's going to make it very difficult for me to, in a way, place the
24:59blame on the right party, right? So as a person, I'm going to be a bit more overcritical because I
25:04don't
25:04understand what's happening. I don't know what's going on. And if something bad happens to me, I'll probably
25:09just blame the easiest party to blame. And that's not good, right? Because if truly someone is innocent,
25:15then they shouldn't have received the blame for it. So I believe that what's going to happen here is
25:19that the failure of this association falls down to awareness. And if we can increase the spending
25:25on, as we mentioned, social media advertising, for example, or ads or news portals, this would
25:31definitely increase awareness and in turn, increase the understanding of what the initiative can
25:36actually benefit us. Exactly. So much more to come. And thank you very much for the keen insights,
25:41why you. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. So, well, big numbers can definitely open doors,
25:46but they don't necessarily build public confidence or trust. What would sustain such a mega project
25:51like the JSSEZ would be consistency for delivery policy and whether Johorians actually feel the
25:59upside in their daily lives. The window to get that right is still open, but time is of the essence
26:04as it won't stay open for long. That's all we have time for today. We'll see you next Friday
26:09with more economic analysis and insights. Here's to a productive week ahead.
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