Dateline 2017-12-24, Malaysian Digest:
The year 2017 has been a challenging one for Malaysia’s oil and gas (O&G) hub of Labuan, with the island’s key engine of economic growth continuing to run at a slow pace.
This has somewhat overshadowed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s announcement of a feasibility study on a bridge to connect Labuan to the Sabah mainland. The proposed link is poised to be an economic game-changer for Labuan once it is put in place.
Notably, a number of O&G companies were shut down or had their operations downsized since last year, but the people here continue to be self-resilient.
Still, in spite of these challenges, the people and business community in the duty-free-island keep reminding themselves that ‘the darkest hour is just before dawn’…positivity, whether in personal life or business, is a choice rather than an outcome.
Many do not believe that Labuan – the only O&G hub in the region – is facing such problems as other oil-producing states and countries are also not spared from being affected badly by the slowdown.
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Wata - Malaysian Oil and Gas Engineer 