This is a CBS I on the World. I'm John Bachelor with my colleague and friend Gordon Chang and we're off to Penang, Malaysia.

To our good colleague Charles Ortell, looking at the global picture we have an alarming

headline from Frankfurt in these last days.

World economy faces pressures similar to the 1920s, warns Christine Christine Lagarde, the ECB President.

Charles, since you've relocated, does the economy of Southeast Asia, which is growing aggressively with its manufacturing base and its well-educated

population in large cities, does it also look as if it's in some concern about recession or worse.

Good day to you, Charles.

Good day to you both.

Not really and not at the moment because for a variety of reasons,

Malaysia is doing very well of course Malaysia being only one of the many countries in Southeast Asia

It's a bit more advanced economically than many of its peers and And as such, the respect for rule of law is good, and

multinational investors are quite interested in plunking more money down all over the industrial spectrum.

So that's very good.

But of course, if the United States, Europe, China, and Japan

go into a tail spin, then where are the products manufactured

in Malaysia going to be sold.

So that I think is a very serious concern for the world at large.

Gordon, you have a question for Charles in Penang.

Charles in Penang.

Is Malaysia seeing China? in Penang. Charles in Penang.

Is Malaysia seeing Chinese factories move down to Penang and to the rest of Malaysia?

Or is there some other phenomena that accounts for the boom where you are.

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