Malaysia, the 3rd riskiest country in the AP region.

Whao, what an achievement!!!!

According to the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), Malaysia is ranked 14th out of the 16 Asia Pacific countries - below minnows like Vietnam, Cambodia and the Phillipines - in terms political and social risks.

 

The consultancy assessed 16 countries on factors such as the risk of disruptive political change, the threat posed by social activism and vulnerability to policy changes by other governments.

 

India, Malaysia and Thailand face the highest political and social risk among Asia-Pacific countries in 2009, mainly because of internal instability.

"For these countries, the coming global economic storm is only going to make a bad situation worse," Robert Broadfoot, managing director of PERC, told Reuters. "India's underlying attractions to foreign investors should remain no matter who wins the next election," the report said.

Thailand is the the second riskiest country in Asia for 2009 with a score of 6.28, as the current political turmoil threatens to drag into 2009 and is eroding the country's key institutions. The consultancy projected Thailand's worst case scenario to be if the King of Thailand dies before the turmoil is resolved.

As for Malaysia, the third riskiest in the region, the report said the struggle for political power was aggravating racial and religious tensions.

"The status quo is changing in ways that will see a stronger political opposition than in the past," said the report.

Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia were ranked most stable and low in political risk for 2009 even though their economies are likely to be hurt by the global financial crisis, PERC said.

The rankings:

 

1. Singapore @ 2.76
2. Australia @2.90
3. Hong Kong @ 3.23
4. Japan @ 3.70 (approx)
5. Macau @ 3.90 (approx)
6. Taiwan @ 4.70 (approx)
7. USA @ 4.90 (approx)
8. South Korea @ 5.0 (approx)
9. Vietnam @ 5.1 (approx)
10. China @ 5.2 (approx)
11. Cambodia @ 5.5 (approx)
12. Phillipines @ 5.7 (approx)
13. Indonesia @ 6.0 (approx)
14. Malaysia @ 6.07
15. Thailand @ 6.28
16. India @ 6.87

 

Whao, so much of Malaysia ya.