Promote local: Anwar to adorn batik during Tokyo trip

PUTRAJAYA: With better advertising and promotion, Malaysian-made products which are as good as foreign brands, can reach internationally-known status and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will play his part to help promote local products abroad.

The Prime Minister who will be leaving for Tokyo this evening (Friday) in conjunction with the 50th Year of Asean-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, said he would adorn the Malaysian batik during one of the dinners which he would be attending.

“The leaders were told that the dress code is either lounge suit or the official attire (of one’s country).

“I have made a note that I will be wearing the Malaysian batik, despite the weather being cold.

“I feel responsible to help promote our goods and by wearing batik, I can help do my part to promote our batik,” he said at the launching of Malaysian Goods Carnival on Wednesday (Dec 13).

Also present was the newly-appointed Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali.

While attesting to the good quality of local products, the Prime Minister observed that promotion was lacking, especially among small and medium enterprises.

He said realising this, the government had allocated RM20mil in Budget 2024 to help local companies with their advertising and promotion efforts.

The Prime Minister said that because of aggressive advertising involving foreign products, people were lured to purchase foreign goods and this could affect one’s income.

“There are instances, where despite only earning RM2,000, one purchases a shirt costing RM400 because of strong advertising influences,” he pointed out.

Anwar said while the government would do its part in promoting Malaysian goods, the best form of advertising were the consumers.

“That is why it is important for us to also buy local. Go eat at a local restaurant, drink local coffee. We are the unofficial ambassadors of our goods,” he said.

Meanwhile, Armizan said there was an increase in consumer trends known as “international localism”, where local goods and services were given preference by consumers.

“There is a greater awareness to build domestic economic potentials and we can see this happening in Malaysia as well.

“We need to leverage and draft effective strategies to benefit from this trend to push our products in the domestic market. At the same, we must expand and explore international markets aggressively,” he added.

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