INDONESIA-MALAYSIA-THAILAND GRWOTH TRIANGLE IN ASEAN

A recent addition to the lexicion of development economics is the term ‘growth triangles’.
Growth triangle, also referred to as subregional economic zone (Chia and Lee 1992), natural
economic terriotories (Scalapino 1992) or extended metropolitan regions (McGee and
Macleod 1992), are transnational economic zones spread over relatively large but well-
defined, geographically, adjacent areas in which differences in the factor endowments of
three or more countries are exploited in order to promote external trade and direct investment.
Growth triangles are specific form of regional economic cooperation.
The term ‘growth triangle’ became well-known after the then Deputy Prime Minister
of Singapore, Goh Chok Tong, used it in December 1989 to describe the subregional
cooperation taking place among Singapore, the southernmost part of the Malaysian state of
Johor, and near by Batam island located in Indonesia’s Riau Province.