INVESTMENT guru Warren Buffett, with an ubiquitous can in hand, once told CNBC that Coca-Cola is "the" ultimate American brand, so it was of no surprise that when the global brand announced a RM1 billion investment here last week, observers saw it as the US government warming to Datuk Seri Najib Razak's administration.

This comes at a time when the country desperately needs to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs), amid an unsustainable government budget deficit, along the treacherous transformation path and transition towards a new economic model.

The fact that Coke's brand new bottling factory is to be sited in a Barisan Nasional-led state, Negeri Sembilan, has also not gone unnoticed. Significantly, it will reportedly be Coke's first major investment in Malaysia since the brand started quenching Malayan's thirst way back in 1936. Even Najib being pictured taking a sip of the iconic drink spoke a thousand words.

It didn't matter to local conspiracy theorists that it was more a move out of necessity after the American company decided to break an over 70-year-old partnership with the Fraser & Neave (F&N) group in the immediate region.

It's the ultimate CIA company, one conspiracy theorist calls it. Symbolically, it's the ultimate endorsement from the ultimate American brand, with many, many jobs to be created in the process.

Let's just hope they keep to their promise of putting less sugar into their ever-expanding range of beverages, or would they rather assist their American counterparts in the pharmaceutical industry in getting more business here, given the less-than-innovative local players in the latter field?

Apart from Coca-Cola, out of the blue, even the American PGA Tour brand has suddenly landed on Malaysian soil. Is it mere coincidence, you may ask?

CIMB Group recently announced it had signed on as title sponsor for the first-ever PGA Tour-sanctioned event in Southeast Asia, the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysia. The first tournament will be held Oct 28-31 at the Mines Resort & Golf Club.

(Wonder if fallen-from-grace Tiger Woods is coming? After all, he will re-emerge into the scene at the upcoming Masters Tournament at Augusta. What a shame, isn't it? A wonderful role model story turned sour, but then again, everyone deserves a second chance, right?)

"Money is flowing in, foreign that is. Watch out for more American companies including Motorola stepping up their investments here," said a local observer.

Yet, last week, Japan's ambassador Masahiko Horie warned that Malaysia could lose FDIs from his country if the manpower shortage faced by the manufacturing sector was prolonged, coupled with the threat of the removal of fuel subsidy.

Despite the potential of more American dollars flowing into the country, it is still too early to call a rally in the market (equity liquidity remains a core issue), though currency volatility could well play into the hands of international traders.

Energy shortage for the local domestic industry is perhaps one of the reasons why the ringgit is allowed to appreciate as much as it has, to become the best positive mover among regional currencies so far this year.

Not taking Vietnam's rate increase into account last year, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) recently became the first Asian economy to raise key interest rates despite the obvious risk of an appreciating ringgit that would result in the country losing its competitive export advantage.

Petronas, the world's second-largest exporter of gas, has had to increase its imports to meet domestic demand. The planned reform on gas subsidies cannot come soon enough as world gas prices are on a rising trend.

While the country looks towards the US and other countries for much needed capital in the domestic economy, it would be folly to ignore exports at this still-nascent stage of economic recovery, particularly to China and India, and not forgetting Indonesia.

Asian tigers tag aside, the region is now seen as potentially the next growth area to watch out for. Malaysian companies' experience and reach not only domestically but beyond

its own shores are plus points.

Politics does not appear to be much of an issue now. The availability and quality of labour still are, though politically, a more settled relationship between the ruling and opposition coalitions will do no harm at all to the country's progress. Consistency in political principles will do the country a world of good.

Foreign investors may not be too much bothered about how or what we teach our children in school, but like locals, they do take notice of the quality of the graduates. The significant decline in the standard of spoken and written English, the lingua franca of global commerce, has been apparent.

Also, the old economy is still very much relevant, a research house advised recently, while the country searches for ways to pull herself out of the low-income trap.

This is perhaps exemplified by Coke's brick-and-mortar model.

In less than two weeks, Najib will be celebrating his first year at the helm. The business community seems to be happy with the way the economy has been trudging along.

Though the introduction of reforms proposed under the government's new economic model and the implementation of the proposed broad-based goods and services tax have been delayed, Najib has been credited with returning confidence in the economy.

The country is back on the path of positive growth. There is even talk of him having enough confidence in calling for a snap general election, along with the impending state polls in Sarawak.

The rakyat's mandate — that will be the ultimate endorsement for Najib, but in the meantime, some more foreign investments, including Americans', in the country will do no harm.