ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the roles of the state as a facilitator of economic regionalization of the oil palm sector in the region. It introduces the concept of economic regionalization as used in the literature, noting that while economic regionalization in the Southeast Asian context has been market-driven, the state has played an especially important role as facilitator of the process. The regionalization process from the Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean perspectives respectively, focuses on government facilitation of the process that resultes in many Malaysian and Singaporean government-linked companies (GLCs) and well-connected oil palm plantation firms establishing plantations in Indonesia. Many Malaysian and Singaporean government elites have vested interests in plantation firms. The vested interests of home governments in these firms further encourage home state involvement and facilitation to ensure the well-being of these plantation firms in the regionalization process. The Singaporean government displayed behaviour similar to their Malaysian counterparts when faced with haze pressures.
