Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : THE PUTRA WORLD TRADE CENTRE (PWTC),
KUALA LUMPUR (K.L)
Tarikh/Date : 05/11/90
Tajuk/Title : THE 17TH ASIAN ADVERTISING CONGRESS
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen;
It gives me great pleasure to be able to address this
Seventeenth Asian Advertising Congress. Malaysia is
honoured to be the host of this year's Congress and I wish
'Selamat Datang' to all foreign participants.
2. The theme of this Congress -- Advertising to Power To-
morrow's Powerhouse: Asia -- is well chosen. It is
forward-looking and implies a commitment by the advertising
industry not only to share in the economic dynamism of the
region, but also to actively contribute towards it. More
than anything else, economic growth is an invigorating crea-
tive process. Your services will therefore be needed to es-
tablish and enlarge profitable markets within our countries
and outside of them.
Ladies and gentlemen,
3. Asia's potential is just being discovered. The fact
that it is only now that attention is being given by the
world's business community implies a lack of information and
often of deliberate misinformation about Asian countries.
In this great information age, it is surprising to see how
myths about Asia continue to be regurgitated with depressing
frequency. To most of the Western world Asian countries are
still the typical mismanaged, grossly corrupt and undemo-
cratic nations, quite incapable of making progress. On the
other hand if they do make progress they are likely to be-
come economic and military threats to Western domination.
In actual fact Asian nations are merely desirous of progress
in the Western sense and wish to have their share of pros-
perity.
4. Asia has been and will be growing faster than other
parts of the world in the near future. This has led many
analysts to believe it will match the European Community and
North America as a market place in the 1990s. Asia has been
shielded from the eyes of Westerners for so long that when
statements about Asia becoming the "Mega-Market of the
1990s" are made, it sounds hardly credible. Yet the vast
natural resources and the huge population must mean markets.
Although the per capita is small, the size of the population
does imply a substantial purchasing power for affordable
items. And in many instances Asian nations have achieved a
considerable degree of affluence and those who know how, can
obviously sell to them even the least essential goods. In
other words, Asia as the mega-market of the 1990s is no
empty statement.
5. Asia has notched up a truly impressive growth record.
In 1988, it grew by 9.4% at a time when world growth was
4.1%. In 1989, Asian growth slowed to 5.4% but it still
managed to outpace world growth of 3.2%. Despite oil price
rises and fears of recession in advanced and developing
economies alike, Asia is seen to be firmly in the drivers's
seat in 1990 and 1991. Given an expected world growth of
between 2 to 2.4% in these years, the International Monetary
Fund expects Asia to grow by 5%. This is an indication of
the tremendous growth forces which will sustain the record
of progress shown by most Asian countries.
6. By the year 2000, it is predicted that Asia's Gross Na-
tional Product, including that of Japan will exceed that of
the United States and of Europe. At first glance, such a
comparison may not seem warranted. Asia is, after all, far
from a seamless market. The continent has enormous poli-
tical, social, economic, and ethnic diversity and this will
not change no matter how rapidly or successfully its econo-
mies manage to transform themselves. Nevertheless Asia has
become self-generating in terms of economic growth as more
and more investments originate from Asian countries. As
Asians support each other's growth, they will become their
own market as much as they will be the world's market.
7. Asians have good reason to be proud. Within the space
of fifty years, a mere blink in the longer throw of history,
Japan has risen from the ashes to become the world's second
strongest economy after the United States. Four economies
-- South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan -- have
raised themselves to great heights of economic distinction.
While not yet comparable, Malaysia and Thailand are record-
ing some of the fastest growth rates in the world.
Indonesia does not lag far behind. These are achievements
that were hardly dreamt of as recently as a decade ago.
Ladies and gentlemen,
8. If the 1980s was the decade of the so-called NICs, the
1990s could well be the decade of Asia. The East and South-
east perimeters of Asia enjoy growing prosperity and the
prospect of the socialist economies to the North and West of
Asia joining their ranks in the future is brighter now than
ever before. The failure of Soviet-style economic planning
is now an admitted fact. With few exceptions, the commu-
nists have abandoned their centrally-planned-and-managed
system in favour of some form of market economy and business
liberalisation. While changes in policies can be made over-
night, the lack of experience in managing a free market sys-
tem will delay real economic progress. But the chances for
them to join Asian growing economies are now far better than
when they were ideologically hamstrung. Their contribution
to Asian growth in the decade of the 90s will therefore be
fairly substantial.
9. There should be no illusions, however. At least some
of the talk about Asia's economic successes is motivated by
less than good intentions. Some nations, fearing that they
will one day have to face Asian countries as competitors,
are doing their utmost to keep them at bay. They constantly
wag accusing fingers in Asia's direction, saying that its
economies have benefited from less than acceptable prac-
tices, for example, denial of human rights and workers
rights, undemocratic governments, disregard for the environ-
ment, etc.
10. The truth of the matter is that Asian countries have
saved, invested and taken entrepreneurial risks while others
have lost much of their will to do so. Countries of devel-
oping Asia are constantly seeking to master the production
of goods and services that the world wants and to improve
upon the technologies which drive them. This contrasts with
the almost insane urge of some developed countries to con-
sume far beyond what they can reasonably afford and to spend
enormous sums of money to hone their technologies for war
rather than peace. Whereas Asian societies have preserved a
solid work ethic, the desire of others to do so have fal-
tered. Whereas the rapidly developing countries pay heed to
the imperatives of development, the need for meticulous
planning and careful economic policies, others have thrown
them to the winds.
11. Japan and other East Asian economies know well that the
economic formulas that worked in the 1980's will not assure
them of a place in the 1990's and beyond. So they have
raised their technological capabilities and efficiency.
Rising labour costs in their countries mean that labour-
intensive, low-technology production is no longer compatible
with their stage of development. Rather than complain, or
seek to protect out-moded production processes, they are in-
stead rapidly moving production off-shore so that they can
remain globally competitive.
12. Asia's manufacturing base has therefore begun to shift
to Southeast Asia where pools of educated and relatively
lower cost labour exist. This trend has had a very signif-
icant impact on the industrialisation process and economic
growth of the rest of Asia and will contribute towards con-
tinued rapid development of many Asian nations.
13. As Asia grows, wealth-creating opportunities are gener-
ated. Some countries like Japan have already become the en-
gines of growth for other aspiring Asian economies. Other
prospering economies are also contributing tangibly to the
region's and the world's prosperity. They, along with Asean
economies, are not, however, taking their success for
granted. They are continuing to think carefully about where
to invest scarce resources, seeking out strategic high-
growth areas that can propel them into the future.
Ladies and gentlemen,
14. By most accounts, the growth of the Malaysian economy
can be expected to average between 7 to 8% over the medium-
term. The policies that have been developed and implemented
over the previous years have laid a strong foundation for
growth. The government's fiscal strategy has been to con-
tain the role of the public sector, thereby allowing the
private sector greater room to grow. Of course, some rise
in public expenditure has to be expected to support growth
in the coming years. These decisions are, however, con-
stantly watched in order not to undo the hard-won results
earned over previous years.
15. Adding to the desire to create a buoyant private
enterprise-based economy is the policy of privatising public
agencies. The divestment of some 246 agencies and enter-
prises worth about sixteen billion ringgit will be given
full attention to in coming years. It is encouraging to
note that the private sector has responded to the new policy
environment by investing heavily in productive capacity.
Large amounts of new investment are being channelled into
manufacturing for export. These are arguably some of the
most profitable areas in the Malaysian economy and are gen-
erating vast additional reinvestment capabilities.
16. Over the next five years, manufacturing will undergo
extensive change. While products such as semi-conductors
and textiles will remain important export items, there will
be extensive diversification to newer products. Already,
Malaysia is beginning to produce such electrical products as
colour television sets, audio equipments and video cassette
recorders. Judging by current patterns of investments, pro-
duction of petrochemicals, including middle distillates, and
high-technology resource-based products such as polyethylene
should also make a strong showing. The service sector is
poised to be a major beneficiary of the rapid growth of man-
ufacturing. Primarily, this will take the form of business
and ancillary services such as advertising.
17. Advertising is of course an industry in itself. It is
an industry which promotes other industries. When promotion
succeeds, enterprises become successful. In a very compet-
itive environment the skills in promoting products and ser-
vices are crucial. Such is the power of advertising
promotion that bad products can succeed at times and for a
time at least, while good products can languish and eventu-
ally vanish if promotion is weak.
18. Advertising skills mean power. And sometimes it can
corrupt. It is necessary that ethical codes be maintained
by those in the industry.
19. With so much going on in Asia, advertising is set to
boom. There are and there will be tremendous opportunities
for advertising people in Asia. No one should begrudge the
advertising industry its share of the growth cake and the
profits. After all the growth of an industry is as much due
to management and technology as it is to the promotion of
the products of industry. Without skillful promotion no one
will buy the myriads of unfamiliar new products which have
now become commonplace household things.
20. We should therefore welcome the advertising industry
even if they do add to the cost of products. Even this cost
can be offset by the volume that advertising generates.
Ladies and gentlemen,
21. The Seventeenth Asian Advertising Congress in Kuala
Lumpur is held at a most significant time when the role of
industry in Asia is much more appreciated and in demand than
ever before. I hope participants will benefit greatly from
this Congress. I hope also that the advertising industry
will always appreciate the power they wield and will protect
the consumers as much as they are obliged to their
paymasters. I hope that the advertising industry in Asia
will help the growth of Asian economies. I hope that to-
gether we will make a reality of the theme of this Congress
"Advertising to Power Tomorrow's Powerhouse - Asia".
Thank you.
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