Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	SUBANG VIEW HOTEL, SELANGOR 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	07/11/84 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE FELLOWSHIP DINNER OF THE 
			INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT 
			CONSULTANTS, MALAYSIA, 




Dr. Bernard T.H. Wang, President of the Institute of Management
Consultants, Malaysia; Distinguished Guests; Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am indeed honoured to be accorded the first Honorary Fellowship by the
Institute of Management Consultants Malaysia and I wish to thank the
President and the Governing Council of the Institute for this privilege.

2. My appreciation also goes to Yang Berbahagia Dato' Ali Esa, Chairman of
the Organising Committee and his colleagues for organising this memorable
occasion. I am similarly thankful to all of you present tonight for your
effort in making this fellowship gathering so meaningful.

3. I also wish to express my thanks for the kind words said about me in
the citation.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

4. As Prime Minister I am concerned with the efficient and effective
administration and management of Malaysia's national affairs, both in the
public and private sectors. I believe that a clean and efficient public
administration is the foundation of good Government and dynamic as well as
productive management in the private sector is the source of national
wealth. Malaysia needs a good Government to maintain peace, order and
stability so as to allow for an efficacious and enterprising commercial
and industrial community to create wealth and prosperity which will then
be shared by the people.

5. Generally speaking public administration is concerned with the
co-ordination of individual and group efforts to carry out public
policies; it is mainly occupied with the routine work of
Government. Public Administration requires a structured system of roles
and functional relationships designed to carry out programmes inspired by
such policies.

The organisation of the Government, therefore, seeks a pattern of skills,
responsibilities and authority that will permit co-ordination and unity of
purpose through supervision. Governmental organisation under our
parliamentary democracy must work to the will and direction of the
party-in-power. This will and direction is, in fact, the platform upon
which the party-in-power is elected and therefore reflects the aspirations
and expectations of the majority of the people. To fulfil the people's
desire, we obviously need an efficient and effective public administration
and this is precisely what the Government is constantly trying to achieve.

6. In broad terms, management is concerned with seeing that a job gets
done and done efficiently. Its tasks centres on decisions for planning and
guiding the operations that are going on in the enterprise. Science and
technology are today coming to their full fruition. Hardly a business can
continue its affairs without some reliance on science and technology. But
science and technology even in the office, cannot displace management
skill. In the final analysis all the data must be evaluated by management
and management it is that must decide. Indeed, it is management that must
decide on the tools to be employed whether in the office or on the shop
floor. If our vital aim is to improve productivity and performance, we
have to achieve efficiency and productivity through dynamic and effective
management.

In fact, the development and quality of life of any society or nation is
largely a result of the management skills of the administrators in the
Government and the executives in the private sector.

7. The concept of Malaysia Incorporated and Privatisation encourages the
existence of an efficient public administration which will work hand in
hand with a dynamic and productive private sector towards the common
benefit and interest of the people and the nation. Through the process of
privatisation many challenges and opportunities will be open to
Malaysians. The question is whether Malaysians can rise to the occasion
and produce results from ventures under such an integrated approach. The
key factor to success, of course, is still efficient and effective
administration and management supported by a strong will and determination
to succeed.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

8. Malaysia is what it is today because of the level of management skill
that is to be found here. We are not too backward. But, on the other hand,
we are not among the highest developed of the developing countries
either. Our wealth today is largely due to our ability to manage mines and
plantations and the extraction of our abundant timber. We are also
enamoured with property development where the main factor is our
privileged position as citizens.

9. The moment we go into industries our lack of management skills show
up. At best we are able to service our domestic market if Government
affords protection. Even then many industries have folded up. But foreign
markets are shunned by the majority of Malaysian industries because we are
always high-cost producers even if the raw inputs are domestically
available. We are high-cost producers largely because we cannot manage to
keep the cost down.

10. As usual when we find that we are not competitive in terms of pricing,
we ask for Government help. We are fond of saying the farmers and
fishermen have a subsidy mentality. Actually Malaysian manufacturers are
worse. They keep on asking from the Government all kinds of subsidies. The
latest help devised by the Government is to lower income tax rates so as
to be at par with neighbouring countries. But, of course, this edge given
to Malaysian industries and investors can be negated by the kind of
demands that will neutralise possible savings by the industries. The
Government have made a sacrifice at great political cost. If that
sacrifice is not appreciated and as a result the expected investments as
well as competitiveness of Malaysian goods do not materialise, then the
Government will have to consider reimposing the punitive tax rates on
higher incomes that prevailed before the new budget. Managers must bear
this in mind and must keep their costs down.

11. The duty of management consultants is obviously to help enterprises
establish good management structure and efficient management
techniques. It is also their duty to interpret not only Government
policies but also the rationale behind those policies. There are frequent
criticisms that the Government tend to regulate business too much. The
truth is that, it is business which keeps on demanding greater Government
interference partly because they wish to be protected and partly because
some of their members have a tendency to misbehave. If you can behave or
better still if you can police yourself, Government will be only too
willing to withdraw. But in Malaysia it has been proven time and again
that this is not possible.

12. The Government is not altruistic when it helps business. It has no
wish to see one small section of the community wax rich. As a democratic
Government we are committed to the majority and the majority are
relatively poor. If we help the rich, it is becuase we want to extract
from them the riches that they make so that we may redistribute them to
the rest. The milking must be done judiciously so that we will not kill
them. Indeed, we should stimulate them to produce more so that we can get
more. A big portion of a small and shrinking cake is not as good as a fair
portion of a growing one. That is this Government's philosophy. I am
putting this crudely because brilliant minds in this country are
frequently incapable of appreciating simple things. They see deviousness
and injustice whenever the Government does anything and like Don Quixote
they rise to fight these windmills of their own creation. What a waste of
intellectual energy at a time when the country needs teachers to teach
good values and good work ethics.

13. Fortunately those who are really involved, as you management
consultants are, do not indulge in mental and publicity exercises. Your
job is to make yourselves worthwhile to those who seek your services. The
measure of your success is the final productivity of your clients. It is
not an abstract quantity but a very measurable one indeed. The country
will be that much better because of you.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

14. Once again I wish to express my gratitude to this Institute for
conferring me this Honorary Fellowship. I wish the Governing Council and
all members of this Institute of Management Consultants, Malaysia every
success in the years ahead.

Thank you.