Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : PRIME MINISTER
Tarikh/Date : 22/02/93
Tajuk/Title : THE INCEPTION MEETING OF THE
INDUSTRIALISTS STEERING GROUP (ISG)
AND THE LAUNCH OF CPSP AND MIGHT
It is indeed a pleasure for me to be with two private-
public sector groups this morning, that is the Malaysian
Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MIGHT) and
the CCGTM-Private Sector Partnership (CPSP). I am a firm
believer in the need for an effective partnership between
government and the private sector for effective management
of development and growth. Malaysia's success can be attri-
buted, in part at least, to the strong public-private sector
relationship.
2. In the current trend towards globalisation of business,
a strong public-private sector partnership is not only nec-
essary but also critical. Globalisation is not just about
doing business world-wide; it is about decentralisation,
about greater autonomy in the off-shore units, about back-
ward and forward linkages between the different processes
and business activities and about re-investment in countries
where the globalised companies operate.
3. Globalisation is about integration of business for
greater efficiency and profitability in tandem with the
planned growth of the national economy. In other words,
globalisation requires making available technological re-
sources in a coordinated fashion for the mutual benefit of
businesses operating in a number of host countries.
4. Companies aiming to globalise have as their strategy
the formation of business alliances in order to maximise the
use of assets, to share costs and risks and to establishing
presence in main markets, thus extracting all possible com-
parative advantages.
5. Globalisation is not without side effects, some of
which are good and some bad. For one, the relationship
within the globalised firms become a complex mixture of com-
petition and cooperation. Also there may develop relation-
ships of interdependence among developing and developed
national economies and the blooming of relationships between
business establishments and nation states.
6. It is through the nurturing partnership between the
public and the private sectors at national level (such as
MIGHT) and international level (such as CPSP) and the coop-
eration between them that process in globalisation can be
fully exploited. These partnerships however can only be ef-
fective, in this context, if they operate as cooperative
networks innovatively, allowing for flexibility, adaptabil-
ity and mutual trust.
7. Malaysia's Vision 2020, of which I am sure you must
have heard with its objective of making Malaysia a fully de-
veloped nation by the year 2020, can only be achieved if in-
dustry plays its part fully in a government-industry
partnership. While the government can provide the appropri-
ate environment for growth and perhaps set the general di-
rection for business activities, it is the industry which
must ensure that growth takes place. Industry has a major
role to play as the engine of growth.
8. It is on this premise that we have vigorously promoted
the Malaysia Inc. concept and initiated programmes to put
the concept to work. In this context we have established
the Malaysian Business Council (MBC) to allow for a process
of creative consultation and meaningful dialogue among
policy-makers, civil servants, corporate leaders and politi-
cians. MBC addresses current and emerging domestic and
international issues impinging on Malaysian development in
order to generate consensus on national economic directions
and strategies and to promote productive cooperation between
the public and private sector.
9. I am pleased to note that the MBC, together with the
National Council for Scientific Research and Development,
has initiated the public-private sector group called MIGHT
(Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology).
10. MIGHT I understand is formed to prospect for business
opportunities for Malaysia through strategic exploitation of
technology for the attainment of the Vision 2020 objectives.
11. The formation of MIGHT is timely and commendable. This
government-industry partnership must work towards strength-
ening our current comparative advantage so as to sustain and
even enhance our competitiveness. This can be done through
technology-based businesses developed on local or foreign-
sourced technologies or those originating from strategic al-
liances.
12. MIGHT must involve the participation of as many and as
wide a spectrum of Malaysian companies for multi-perspective
views that will enable actions at both micro and macro lev-
els.
13. Larger membership will increase the possibilities and
opportunities for new businesses through strategic alliances
in the emerging mode known as virtual corporation.
14. In Malaysia, MIGHT will have the opportunity to foster
and trigger the process of virtual corporation by
cooperatively strengthening needed expertise in companies.
Government support for this is reflected in the setting up
of the unit for MIGHT in the Prime Minister's Department.
15. The Commonwealth Consultative Group on Technology Man-
agement (CCGTM) must play its role in promoting the new
process of prospecting technology for national competitive
advantage. The CCGTM, as you know, was initiated in Kuala
Lumpur. It was established by the Commonwealth Heads of
Government when they met in Kuala Lumpur in 1989. CCGTM has
evolved from being an agent of change reforming the public
sector technology management into a cooperative networking
organisation that facilitates the interaction between public
and private sector in technology management for growth.
16. I am gratified by the success of the CCGTM in its bold
initiative to garner the support of the private sector at
the Commonwealth and international level culminating in the
formation of the CCGTM-Private Sector Partnership (CPSP).
This partnership can take advantage of the strategic ge-
ographic positions of Commonwealth countries on all conti-
nents, and their varying levels of sophistication, to
promote business through the transfer of the best practices
in technology management.
17. I congratulate the forward looking perspective of the
international businesses such as Cable & Wireless, Shell
International, Rolls Royce, Short Brothers, GEC Marconi,
Hewlett Packard and, of Commonwealth national businesses in
Zimbabwe, Botswana, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia who have already
joined the CPSP.
18. Having already domonstrated ways in which the Govern-
ment Private Sector Partnership can be achieved, you may
need to focus during 1993 on the new qualitative change for
the CCGTM and to establish a new formula for managing and
resourcing CPSP. This may involve a shift from the tradi-
tional multi-lateral funding towards a cooperative resourc-
ing from government organisations, companies, CCGTM members
themselves and other friends.
19. Towards this end CCGTM's own cooperative network
organisation may need to look into a more effective form of
management while still maintaining the traditional links.
By October this year you may be able to take advantage of
the CHOGM in Cyprus where you may formulate a complete for-
ward strategy for the next five years, based on the new
CPSP.
20. In this context, I wish to urge Malaysian industrial-
ists to support and join the CPSP to follow the example of
Sapura and YTL Corporation and in this manner help to
strengthen mutually their resources.
21. I hope MIGHT will also work closely with the CCGTM and
the CPSP for collaborative action in prospecting for tech-
nology and in building an agenda of action for industrial
competitiveness for Malaysia.
22. It is now, my pleasure to officially launch the
CCGTM-Private Sector Partnership and the Malaysian Industry-
Government Group for High Technology.
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