ABSTRACT
Many authors have documented the visible role of Asian states in making high technology clusters. With some differences in detail, they have highlighted the state as a creator of industry clusters across Asia, from Malaysia and Taiwan to Singapore and South Korea (Bunnell and Coe, 2005; Indergaard, 2003; Lee and Tee, 2009; Lee, 2009). The thrust is that in the face of the heightened global economic competition, nation-states strive to reclaim their national economies by strategically breeding globally oriented urban regions where national technological and human resources are concentrated. Spatial concentration of national resources allows the well-equipped and specialized urban region to transcend the local economy and become the focal point of economic development, technology and knowledge transfer and catalyse national economic integration into the global economy. In this process, the nation-state acts not only as a visionary or provider of infrastructure but also as active organizer of R&D activities, knowledge and technology transfer; creator of social networks; and recruiter of human capital. Some authors argue that the change in the role of state is more visible in terms of how the state imposes differentiated treatment based on citizenship—i.e. ethnic groups or nationality. For instance, the Multi-media Super Corridor in Malaysia is a high-tech cluster where regulations on foreign direct investment, transnational corporations, and foreign workers are selectively lifted to create an exceptional global place within the national space. This differentially treated space privileges skilled workers and promotes local-global connections to induce the development anchored on transnational corporations (TNCs) and mobile skilled workers (Bunnell and Coe, 2005, p. 845; Ong, 2000).
